Star Trek

Republican Secret Weapon

Jeanette Dousdebes-Rubio

Marco Rubio's wife is a rare sight on the trail. In campaign advertisements, her face is half obscured by a crown of blond hair and the frenetic limbs of her squirming sons.

Jeanette Dousdebes-Rubio does not give speeches. She does not like crowds. She would rather be with her children.

The Rubios both attended South Miami High School, but they didn't meet until a neighborhood party when she was 17 and he was 19. He teased her. She thought he was funny.

She worked as a bank teller, then joined the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders with her younger sister in 1997. She posed for the squad's first swimsuit calender and practiced dance moves up to four nights a week. On game days, Rubio cheered her on from the stands.

"She was just a wonderful person. She has kind of a calm personality, very easygoing," said Dorie Grogan, senior director of entertainment, who was brought on to sex up the cheerleaders in 1996. "He seemed like a supportive, really nice boyfriend."

Jeanette ditched the team a year later and married Rubio. She wanted to be a fashion designer, but unexpectedly became pregnant. She thought they would have three kids at most.

They had two daughters, then two sons. Now 36, she leads a weekly women's Bible group from her house and stays at home with the children.

When her husband announced he was running for the Senate, she asked him to be sure he was doing it for the right reasons.

"We talked about the good and the bad that comes along with politics," she said. "I don't think you are ever really prepared, but you always know what it comes with."

In D.C. she'll miss her network of friends and family.

"If someone would have told me my life would have played out the way it is now, I would have said, 'Get out of here,' " she said.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/the-women-behind-the-men-who-would-be-floridas-senator/1112189

Hey, look at that smile and that pretty blond hair. Clearly a woman who could slay many a man with just a wink and a smile.