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.
''I am proud of Arlene,'' Bush said. ``She is a hard-working, talented person who Sen. McCain is very fortunate to have leading his effort in Florida.''
McCain tapped DiBenigno to be his Florida campaign manager last month, in part because of her work running Gov. Charlie Crist's successful ''Yes on 1'' campaign supporting last January's property-tax amendment. The measure passed with 64 percent of the vote.
''It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see winning talent,'' Crist said. ``Arlene knows everybody. She does. She's amazing and brilliant.''
DiBenigno, 40, who lives in Tallahassee, is the consummate insider. She's been on the inside of two successful Jeb Bush campaigns for governor and one defeat. She helped orchestrate Crist's victory over Tom Gallagher in the 2006 governor's race. She was schooled in Miami-Dade politics, learned fundraising from the late Alec Courtelis -- who raised millions for Republicans -- worked on four presidential campaigns and served a stint in the White House. Her political Rolodex is among the most extensive in Florida.
OPENING DOORS
''It's an extensive Rolodex because I've been blessed to work with all these amazing people who have opened so many doors,'' she said. ``I love convincing a voter why they should vote for this person, or talking to people and making sure their issues are heard. . . . It's not work. It's my passion.''
DiBenigno helped McCain even before officially joining his team: She helped persuade Crist to take the politically risky -- and ultimately pivotal -- decision to endorse McCain on the crucial weekend before the Jan. 29 primary.
DiBenigno's connections had helped persuade McCain to endorse Crist in the governor's 2006 primary against Gallagher, said Vivian Myrtetus, Crist's former communications director, and it was largely speculated that the governor might return the favor.
But pressure was also on Crist to choose GOP rivals Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney in the primary. Though Crist made the final decision, Myrtetus said, ``Arlene did a lot to introduce and educate the governor about John McCain.''
Now, DiBenigno must help educate Floridians about McCain. After a career in the trenches, with a strong track record of victories, it's a make-or-break moment for her career because Florida is a must-win state for McCain.
The Arizona Republican, she says, will emphasize his time spent in Florida -- on the campaign trail and in the military. And he will appeal to Hispanic voters on immigration and foreign affairs, push his record on Israel among Jewish voters and use his maverick image to woo independents.
After waiting until May to formally name DiBenigno political director, the McCain campaign has a Florida staff of 17 full-time employees, led by DiBenigno and regional director Buzz Jacobs.
By all accounts, DiBenigno brings discipline and an ability to coordinate volunteers and pull together events that are picture-perfect for the media and people-friendly for the crowds.
DiBenigno ''likes to do her job out of the limelight,'' said Cory Tilley, Bush's former communications director. ''But within the campaign structure, she is not the quiet type,'' he said, adding that she will ``speak her mind in a campaign meeting -- especially if the candidate is in the room and doesn't want to hear the bad news.''
DiBenigno's forceful personality has ruffled some feathers over time, according to some former colleagues who asked not to be quoted.
`TOUGH BUT FAIR'
''People in Tallahassee may think she's tough, but she's very fair,'' said Kathleen Shanahan, Bush's former chief of staff and a friend of DiBenigno's. ``To earn people's respect, you've got to be tough, fair and set the standard. At the end of the day, no one works harder than Arlene.''
Crist's campaign director, George LeMieux, said DiBenigno ''knows people in every county'' and ``is the best there is at getting them to work for her candidate.''
Myrtetus said that during the Crist campaign DiBenigno would spend ``long hours thinking and planning for every possible thing that could go wrong and always had a back up plan.''
Details mattered: if the event was in the sun, they supplied cold water. If they were shuttling media all day, they ordered food. If they were expecting a small crowd, they would find a small park; a large crowd, they'd get a stage and a loud sound system.
Shanahan said DiBenigno has ``a tremendous eye for what an event should look like, what the message should be, and what picture people see.''
After DiBenigno began working for Jeb Bush, he became her mentor. She worked on his father's 1988 and 1992 presidential campaigns, the 1990 reelection campaign of former Gov. Bob Martinez, and the 1996 presidential campaign of former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. In 1993, when Bush began to prepare to challenge Gov. Lawton Chiles, he hired DiBenigno to help from a garage office in his Pinecrest home.
''Those were fun times,'' recalled Justin Sayfie, another Jeb Bush protégé who is now a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and lobbyist. He worked alongside DiBenigno in the garage office, helping with research and writing speeches while she worked as Bush's political manager.
Bush lost in 1994 but won in 1998 and made DiBenigno his appointments director, then director of external affairs, the political arm of the governor's office.
DiBenigno says her political compass was influenced by Bush but formed first by her parents, Alfredo and Cruz Diaz, who came to the United States from Cuba in their late teens, never to return.
''You're raised with the understanding of what your parents went through and struggled with,'' she said. ``My father instilled in me to never take for granted what this country has to offer.''
She met her husband, Leo DiBenigno, at a Cuban American National Foundation dinner in Washington, D.C., while traveling with Bush in the early 1990s. Her husband got a job with the U.S. State Department and the couple moved briefly to Washington. He is now director of the Florida Lottery Department and they have a 15-year-old daughter, Alexandra.
FAMILY LIFE
Arlene's long hours campaigning and days away from home are now part of family life -- every two years, her husband says.
''We don't know there's actually a more sane way of living,'' he said. ``It's all we know.''
