How the GOP's First Female Presidential Campaign Manager Manages Donald Trump

Morning at the Conway household is like mornings in most homes with children. It's a scramble to get the kids fed, dressed and out the door on time for school -- organized chaos that would look familiar to any parent. But the mother of four young children in the New Jersey home we visited is not just any parent -- she is Donald Trump's campaign manager.

Kellyanne Conway's real house in Alpine, New Jersey, looks eerily like the one NBC's "Saturday Night Live" imagined in a parody earlier this month. The bit fantasized what a day off would be like for her -- rollerblading, painting, doing yoga -- only to be constantly interrupted by demands for television appearances so that she can try to explain fictitious off-the-wall comments from her boss.

In the few short months since becoming Trump's campaign manager, Conway has become a constant fixture on television -- laying out his agenda, talking points and often trying to smooth over Trump controversies. In dedicating a whole sketch to her, SNL picked up on a question many people are fascinated by: Does she believe what she says when she defends Trump?

"I think it's unfair to say I'm always dutifully defending him. I look at my job, Dana, as explaining positions on issues, why he's running for president and why people should vote for him," said Conway, 49, who will turn 50 on Inauguration Day.

Conway has only been on the job since August. She is Trump's third campaign manager, but the first woman ever to run the campaign of a Republican nominee. She told us that when Trump asked her to take the job, her being a woman was beside the point.

"I wasn't hired because of my gender. But it's a special responsibility," said Conway, "I want to do right, apart from my gender -- I want to do right as a campaign manager."

That's not always easy when Trump is the candidate. Just this past weekend Trump was supposed to give a focused speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, about what he calls "draining the swamp."

Instead, he started his remarks by going decidedly off script, attacking the women who say he groped them and vowing to sue them for lying when the election is over.

"It's his campaign, and it's his candidacy, and in the end, yes, I feel comfortable with his voice and his choice," said Conway.