• Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008

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McCain's right hand woman

The director of John McCain's campaign in Florida got her start in politics on a whim.

Arlene DiBenigno was watching the news on TV in 1988 when she saw the vice president's son, Jeb Bush, returning to Miami from a trip to Kuwait. DeBenigno, then a 19-year-old Miami Dade Community College student, was inspired by the young Bush and decided: "I want to work for him."

Her father, a Cuban exile and veteran of the Bay of Pigs, suggested she give Jeb Bush a call. Within months, DiBenigno had a temp job as a receptionist at the Codina Group, the Miami-based development company where Bush was a partner.

She quickly earned Bush's attention, took a job as his executive assistant and spent the next 18 years working for him and others within his circle. Her jobs: fundraiser, researcher, problem solver and political manager. Her degree: the art of politics, Bush-style.

Read the complete story at miamiherald.com

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