Then again, she made People magazine's "100 most beautiful people" list. He didn't.

They both turned up on Time's 100 ";most influential people" list.

COVER GIRL

Michelle Obama sells magazines: She's been splashed across the cover of Vogue, People, O magazine, Time and more.

"She's a solid seller," says Larry Hackett, People's managing editor.

A February issue of People with Michelle on the cover sold 1.36 million copies. January's "inauguration special," whose front had the Obamas dancing together at an inaugural ball, sold 1.6 million.

Hackett says there's big interest in the Obamas - but maybe not as big as the hype might suggest.

The Obamas "are relatively more fascinating and interesting, but it's not by some crazy factor," Hackett says.

Barack has had his own cover spreads - he was on the front of Men's Vogue in 2006 and 2008, and fronted Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire and GQ last year, too.

And it's Barack - not Michelle - who's had a swimsuit edition: Washingtonian splashed a photo of a shirtless Obama in his swimsuit on the cover of its May issue.

The headline declared: "Our new neighbor is hot."

Final sales numbers aren't in yet, but "so far, it's selling really well," said Beth Sara Widger, circulation manager for Washingtonian.

Barack has been a best-selling subject for a number of news magazines. But his image doesn't guarantee huge sales.

In May, the first issue of the redesigned Newsweek, with a close-up of Obama on the cover, was no barnburner, according to preliminary, unaudited figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

At times, magazine editors' enthusiasm for all things Obama seems to run away with itself.

The teaser headline on the cover of the June/July issue of the Conde Nast men's magazine Details: "Can President Obama Make You Better in Bed?"

No comparable headline for Michelle. Yet.

BRAINS v. CLASS

Intelligent is the single word that most often comes to mind when people think of Barack Obama, according to a Pew survey conducted in April. That was followed by "good" and "socialist."

For Michelle, the words most often volunteered were "classy"; and "nice.