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Would-be first ladies a study in sharp contrast
The blond, blue-eyed McCain is a former rodeo queen and cheerleader who holds a master's degree in special education from the University of Southern California. She grew up in a wealthy family in Phoenix and is heiress to Hensley & Co, one of the largest US distributors for brewing giant Anheuser-Busch.
Last month, she released a tax return showing she made about $6 million in 2006.
McCain has raised four children, including a daughter Bridget, 16, whom she adopted from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh. McCain has traveled the globe as part of her charitable work.
McCain's deferential manner puts her in the company of more traditional first ladies such as Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush. "She is more in the classic mold of the candidate's wife on the campaign trail," said Calvin Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
He said McCain has her own version of the "Nancy Reagan stare", the adoring gaze that the former first lady perfected.
"If you look at Michelle Obama, it appears that throughout their married life, she and her husband have been very much equals," Jillson said. Her image as an equal partner was on display with the celebratory fist-bump the Obamas shared on the night he clinched the nomination last week.
America has had nontraditional first ladies before.
They included Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter who sat in on Cabinet meetings, and Hillary Clinton, who was named by her husband to lead a health-care task force.
Obama met her husband through her work as a corporate lawyer and is his closest adviser, although associates have described her role as less of a policy-oriented one than that of a confidante who provides a reality check.
She has acquired an image as a tough-minded task-master. |
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