Liddy attracted huge spport in '96

Happily married, gracefully empathetic, self-controlled and impeccably groomed, Mrs Dole, also known as Liddy (although she loathes the girlhood nickname), is a polished performer and a freak for detail.

On the night before her wedding to Bob Dole in 1975 she rehearsed her vows over and over again. After a polished performance alongside him during the 1996 presidential campaign she was ready to be carried over the threshold at the White House. But it was not to be. Now she may get there with a campaign of her own.

Perfect child

Elizabeth Hanford started out as she meant to go on. At age six she organised Girl Scout contributions to a WWII veterans charity. A few years later she started her own book club, lining up speakers after appointing herself president.

Six decades later the early traits have flourished. She gets up at 5am to make lists of projects and what she has to do that day. When she has to walk any substantial distance in high heels to a podium or lectern, she sends an aide to count the steps.

She also rehearses questions and answers with aides before important telephone calls and memorises policy papers. She carries stamped envelopes to save time and jots ideas on a notepad she keeps by her bed.

The downside to such meticulous preparation is that it takes time. Former associates have said her managerial style came at the price of often prolonged indecision.

She herself admits that it can be a burden: "Perfectionism is a disease of the ego," she once admitted.

Stylish supporter

However it did pay dividends as she put her $200,000 a year Red Cross job on hold to support her husband through his bid for the presidency in 1996.

Elisabeth Dole is closer to her supporters than most politicians

"She is a master at reaching out to the hearts and souls of voters," one commentator said.

"She brings an aura of royalty," said another.

Mrs Dole's masterly performance at the Republican convention in San Diego was the highlight of his campaign and left observers in no doubt of her skill at the stump.

Famously playing Oprah in 1996

"She took the mike and in Oprah Winfrey style strolled around the audience. All of that was well scripted," Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institute said.

"She's tough but she has a southern sweet style about her. She's formidable - but whether she proves attractive to large numbers of republicans remains to be seen," he said.

It would be harder to prepare for the unpredictability her own presidential campaign. It will certainly be more rough and tumble than her last winning campaign - for May Queen at Duke in 1958.

Belle who bucked trends

Born into southern gentility the daughter of floral wholesaler, Libby was a horse-riding piano-playing ballet-dancing Southern belle who won beauty contests and shone at débutante balls. She was also Phi Beta Kappa.

Cape, hat and skirt: A Harvard rarity

But in the days when women looked forward to playing hostess for their husbands, Elizabeth took political science, followed by a Masters in education and then studied law at the Ivy league male bastion of Harvard. She was just one of two dozen female students in a class of 500.

She went on to practice law before becoming involved in politics. She has served six presidents. In her 25 years in government she was a member of the Federal Trade Commission, a senior staff member in the Reagan White House and twice in the cabinet.

Having been around in Washington for years she knows how to play the image game and steer clear of controversy.

In a 1987 profile for the New York Times she said of abortion: "I think it's just about the most difficult decision there is, and one I'm still wrestling with."

Seven years later she was still battling with that one, saying: "It is the toughest question I have ever had to wrestle with and frankly I'm still wrestling with it."

Going for the final prize?

Mrs Dole was winning national awards as early as the 1970s. She was named one of America's young leaders by Time magazine in 1974 and was voted one of the World's ten most admired women in a 1988 Gallup Poll.

Time for a reversal of roles?

In her official American Red Cross biography she happens to mention that she was "chosen by a significant margin... as the woman most likely to be the first female president of the United States."

During her husband's campaign she determinedly forced the spotlight back onto him every time the public glare turned on her. She responded to suggestions that she would make a better president than him diplomatically with: "Let's don't do that."