Both fervently support their husbands on the campaign trail, both are financially independent, and both get acknowledged in the fashion world for their elegance.

But the similarities between Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, one of whom is likely to become the next US first lady in January, end there.

The more discreet Cindy McCain, 54, is heard mostly when she introduces her husband, Republican Senator John McCain, ahead of his presidential campaign speeches, wishing him well as she hands him the microphone.

Last week she told New York television NY1 in a rare interview that she sees her role in the background, now, and if and when John McCain wins the White House.

"I do not ever envision myself as being involved in the McCain administration, as it's been put, but my husband and I do talk and I want to be a part of listening to his ideas, too," she said.

Blonde and blue-eyed, petite and composed, the former beauty queen is a businesswoman who inherited her family's large beer distribution empire and also oversees a number of philanthropic projects, some financed by her family foundation. She married McCain, 18 years her senior, in 1980, weeks after he divorced the mother of his three first children.

They then had three children of their own, and in 1991 adopted a fourth, Bridget, a Bangladeshi girl orphaned in a cyclone.

Despite her low-key role, Cindy McCain has endured her share of nasty attacks.