Supriya Jindal is something else. A chemical engineer who’s raising three children, the 37-year-old also runs a foundation for underprivileged children and, perhaps most importantly, has embraced her role as the nation’s youngest first lady.

Her husband, of course, is Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a man who’s become somewhat of a national joke after his slow, drawl-soaked speech responding to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress last month.

Despite that, Mr. Jindal is still seen as a leading contender for his party’s contested leadership. Punch lines and political rumors, however, don’t mean much to Mrs. Jindal, who tells The Daily Beast’s Meghan McCain that she and her husband are focused on more local business:

Bobby’s focus always has been and should stay, and will stay, on Louisiana. That has to be his first priority and that is his first priority; making a difference here in Louisiana for families here in Louisiana. So all this talk is just talk going around. You know, we will see what happens but he is focused on his reelection here in Louisiana and making a difference in our state.

It’s very flattering, it’s very nice, but I think the Party as a whole and the country as a whole needs to focus on solutions right now and not focus on who the next candidate’s going to be. All of that needs to go by the wayside. We have dire problems going on in the country and we need to focus on that right now.

In addition to discussing politics, Mrs. Jindal also shared her own biographical journey, like moving from India to the United States, converting to Christianity and her near-miss love affair with the governor, whom she first met in high school. "He used to tell his friends that ‘I really like her, I really want to ask her out,’ but he never had the courage to ask me out," Supriya explained. "Well, he finally did at the end of our high-school year and I told him no." It wasn’t until years later, after college, that Jindal called Supriya again and asked her to a political event. Curious to see how he turned out, Supriya agreed and the rest, as they say, is history.

Read McCain’s entire interview with Supriya Jindal over at The Daily Beast.