Coe worked as an aide to
Harold D. Cooley in the 1960s. She joined the congressional office of
Bob Dole in 1968 as a caseworker. She served as his Senate office manager and office manager during his vice presidential campaign with
Gerald R. Ford. Coe was appointed as
Secretary of the United States Senate by
Bob Dole, Senate Majority Leader in 1985. She served in that role until 1987. She was the first woman to serve as secretary of the Senate. After serving in this capacity, she founded and directed Senator Dole's
political action committee, Campaign America. When Senator Dole formed a presidential exploratory committee in 1995, she was appointed Finance Director and also served as acting campaign manager until campaign manager Scott Reed joined the campaign staff. She continued in the role of Finance Director of the Dole campaign committee (see:
1996 United States presidential election) until she had raised the maximum allowable under federal campaign law, after which she transferred to the
Republican National Committee as deputy finance chairman. After the campaign, Coe became Senator Dole's Chief of Staff and assisted in raising money for the
National World War II Memorial, the
Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, and numerous other non-profit groups in which Senator Dole took a leadership role, as well as for Republican political candidates. ==Personal life and death==