According to the wikipedia entry on the 1960 Presidential debate,

"His poor makeup, haggard appearance due to a knee injury and hospitalization earlier in the month, and his grey suit, which blended into the backdrop of the set, contributed to Nixon's poor showing. While the consensus on the three subsequent debates was that Nixon clearly performed better and even won in some cases, ....that first debate haunted him for the rest of the season."

We are far removed from the days when the strongest man in the clan became chief, preferring instead to choose the wisest man. Now however, we seem to have added a new criterion to the search for a king, we want a good looking one. At the last general  election, in addition to his family wealth and name, Uhuru Kenyatta could count on his ‘good looks' to wow a good number of voters, and though the significance of its influence cannot be measured, the perception that he was good looking certainly helped his campaign.  Even today, the tag of ‘handsome' blesses Kalonzo Musyoka's presidential campaign reviews, in a manner that suggest journalists, if not the entire population, put some sort of premium on this.

Over in the USA, the frenzy that greets President Bill Clinton and even now Senator Barack Obama, is in no small part influenced by thetransformation of the politicians platform into a rock-star's stage. Bevies of 'beauties for Obama' now throng his every concert, just as groupies would track a popstar.

The January 20^th issue of The Economist, visits this issue of beauty and politics, introducing the fact of a Finnish study (PDF) which seems to set in stone that modern politics is influenced by aesthetics more than we like to admit. For the political neophyte the article suggests, good looks are vital. 65% of females running for a position would be successful if they were better looking than the incumbent, and for men, the beauty premium was 57%. Good looks alone, it continues are worth 5%-8% in solid votes, no small figure considering just how similar most modern political platforms are.

Now back to the French promise of Segolene Royal, who some papers have dubbed, ‘The Mona Lisa' and ‘a siren'.  Uncomfortable with all the adulation based on her looks, her opponents are declaring that

""This is not a beauty pageant,"

 But what makes them so sure? The days are gone when a person would "vote for a pig if his party put one up," as one British voter put it in the 1950s. Today, politicians must be well-groomed animals, selling their personalities not their parties. Looks can have an especially powerful influence on the minority of floating voters who determine election results, says Linda Bilmes, a professor of government at America's Harvard University."

With the big fight this December likely to be between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki, we can thank heaven that the question of looks will be farthest from our minds.