Washington - For many conservatives, Cindy McCain is the personification of a first lady.

The gracious heir to a multi-million-dollar family business, she dresses with impeccable style and always presents herself as the ideal political wife - always smiling, not in the foreground but a couple of steps back.

She is intelligent yet restrained, and not one strand is ever out of place in her perfectly coiffed blonde hair.

She seems unlikely to create political controversy for her husband, Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain, 72, as counterpart Michelle Obama has already done for Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama.

A former cheerleader and rodeo queen, Cindy McCain, 54, would never see herself as any sort of "co-president," as Hillary Clinton was once described. McCain has said that she would not even "deem it appropriate" to attend a White House meeting of her husband's Cabinet.

People close to her say the potential first lady is intensely private, yet anything but removed from the world. Under the sheen of wealth into which she was born, she is described as warm-hearted.

She has a weakness for fast cars, and struggled for several years with an addiction to prescription drugs before successfully seeking treatment.

Cindy Hensley McCain was born into a rich family on May 20, 1954. Her father owned, Hensley & Co, one of the largest beer distributors in the United States.

After finishing her university studies, Cindy worked as a high- school teacher. Some 30 years ago, she met John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran 18 years her senior, whose marriage was falling apart. It was love at first sight, and in a little over a year they had tied the knot.

They made a life in her home state of Arizona, where John soon forged a political career, getting elected to the US House of Representatives before winning a Senate seat in 1986.

Meanwhile, Cindy gave birth to three children, founded a medical- relief organization for children in developing countries and was active in charities such as CARE. In 1991, she brought an abandoned baby with a cleft palate to the United States from Bangladesh for medical treatment, and the girl was later adopted by the McCains as their fourth child. McCain also has three children from his first marriage.

After repeated back operations and chronic pain, Cindy McCain became addicted to painkillers in 1989. She partly obtained the drugs illegally from the stocks of her medical relief organization, and in 1992 she underwent drug rehabilitation and later paid a fine to avoid criminal charges for misappropriation of controlled pharmaceuticals.

She made the most of the experience to raise public awareness about the dangers of addiction.

Since 2000, Cindy McCain has been chairwoman of the Hensley family enterprises, and her personal assets are estimated at 100 million dollars. The couple have largely kept their finances separate.

She has fully recovered from a stroke she suffered in 2004, and is accompanying her husband tirelessly along the campaign trail, giving him advice and transmitting calm. (dpa)