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Q. What kind of a first lady would you be?
A. Traditional first lady for the millennium would be my best description. I do not step forward on the issues. My style is my own ... more subtle. I play a very supportive role. I have many different interests. But having the wonderful opportunity of having small children adds a different dimension to all this. My children and husband come first.

Q. Tell us about your family and how you would envision life in the White House.
A. We have four young children at home [Meghan, 15; Jack, 13; Jimmy, 11; Bridget, 8]. My days now are spent as a full-time mother. So I carpool and do all those kinds of things. If my husband was elected, my first priority would be my four children. Not only do my children come first, but if I can keep things steady and provide a loving, warm environment, my husband can do his job better.

Q. Have you and your children ever lived in Washington?
A. Our children have never been raised in Washington. They were born here in Arizona. We wanted our children to have the most normal home life as possible and we thought we could do that better out here at our home base rather than in Washington. In normal years, my husband commutes home to Arizona every weekend. The fun thing we get to do is play tourists [in Washington].

Q. Since you'd all be living in the nation's capitol if the senator is elected president, how will you maintain a sense of normalcy for them? Will you seek advice from any former first ladies?
A. I don't know how you would do that. There have not been any first families [with small children] in the White House recently.

Q. The Clintons raised Chelsea in the White House. They worked very hard to guard her privacy.
A. That would be us times four in our house.

Q. You've been on campaign trails before. How do you like being on a high-pressure presidential campaign?
A. It's great fun. We have a wonderful time. People say you've been through campaigns before, but I can assure you there is nothing like a presidential race. We are in this certainly to win, but if we don't win we have a wonderful life at home. What's wrong with having to come back to Arizona? We are in a situation where we have the best of both worlds.

Q. You went on national television in October to talk about your three-year addiction to painkillers and the shame of having stolen drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a relief organization you founded to provide emergency medical care to poor children around the world. Are you concerned that this episode from your past will hurt your husband's campaign?
A. No, I am not worried about what effect it will have on the campaign because it is who I am and part of what happened to me. The most important thing to me is that I always will be in recovery. I have to keep myself strong and certainly during a stressful time like a campaign. Anyone who is in recovery or who has had an addiction anytime in their life, understands the difficulty certainly surrounding it and the absolute wonderful experience of going into recovery and surviving the whole thing. For me, it has been uplifting.

Q. Speaking of your volunteer work, you've been tireless in your efforts on behalf of needy children. What issues are dearest to you and would you continue to advocate if you become first lady?
A. Specific issues I'm interested in are adoption ... children's health care, foster care and volunteerism. One of the things I have tried to promote in Arizona is being a volunteer and providing a good example to my children. [As first lady,] I could not only encourage more people to take time to volunteer, but perhaps encourage businesses and companies to encourage employees and give them incentives ... no government programs involved in this ... but company to company and people to people.

Q. Besides your three natural children, you have an adopted daughter from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, is that correct?
A. Yes, there were 150 newborn children at the orphanage [where her medical group had gone]. There were two babies, one with a heart condition and another with a severe cleft palate. We were taking them back to the United States for medical treatment. Onboard the flight from Bangkok to Los Angeles, I realized I couldn't give her up [the baby with the cleft palate]. It was one of those things. I basically presented her to my husband. He was so loving about it. Her name is Bridget. She's 8 years old now. She's wonderful.