Sarah Palin

aka Sarah Louise Heath Palin

(1964–)

Biography: governor, former 2008 vice-presidential running mate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain. She was born Sarah Louise Heath on February 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho. At the age of three months, she moved to Alaska when her parents came to teach school in Skagway in southeast Alaska. Sarah Palin's father, Charles, was a science teacher and track coach. Her mother, Sally, was a school secretary.

Sarah Palin grew up in the small town of Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage. In 1982, she played on Wasilla High School's state champion girls' basketball team, picking up the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her intense playing style.

After graduating from Wasilla High in 1982, Sarah Palin wore the crown of Miss Wasilla in 1984 and was the runner-up in the Miss Alaska contest. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987. She also became a television sports reporter in Anchorage.

An outdoors enthusiast, Palin is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She is an avid hunter, eats moose hamburger and rides snowmobiles.

Palin eloped with her high school sweetheart, Todd Palin, on August 29, 1988, and helped run his family's commercial fishing business. Todd, who is part Yu'pik Eskimo, also worked for BP at a Prudhoe Bay processing facility. He took leave from the company when his wife became governor to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

Affectionately referred to as Alaska's "First Dude," Todd is also a four-time champion of the Iron Dog, the world's longest snow machine race. From 1995 to 2002, he was a member of Alaska's Independence Party, a fierce states' rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state. Some party leaders have advocated Alaskan secession from the United States.

Palin and her husband have five children: Bristol (who is 17-years-old and expecting a baby with boyfriend Levi Johnston, a hockey player at Bristol's high school), Willow, Piper, Track (who is in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Iraq on September 11, 2008) and Trig (who was born in April 2008 with Down syndrome).

Palin entered politics in 1992, winning a seat on the Wasilla City Council by opposing tax hikes. Four years later, she was elected mayor of Wasilla by knocking off a three-term incumbent.

As mayor, Palin cut property taxes and reduced spending. She also raised the city sales tax by a half a percent to build a popular sports complex and put more money into public safety.

Mayor Palin also effectively used the system of congressional earmarks. She collected $26.9 million in such funding, according the independent watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, including $15 million for a commuter rail project.

Palin ran her first statewide campaign in 2002 in a bid for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. She lost by fewer than 2,000 votes.

Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski appointed Sarah Palin to chair the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2003. She resigned a year later in protest over what she perceived to be the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, including Republican Party Chair Randy Ruedrich.

In 2006, Palin won the Republican primary for Governor, defeating Murkowski. She went on to win the general election in November 2006 by defeating former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles in the general election, 49 percent to 41 percent.

While running for governor, Palin supported the so-called "bridge to nowhere," which later was criticized (by John McCain and others) as too expensive ($400 million) to build a bridge to a remote Alaskan community. Palin said the bridge was essential for local prosperity. But once she became governor, she turned against it, citing rising costs and other priorities.

"I told Congress thanks but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere up in Alaska," Palin said. "If we wanted a bridge we'll build it ourselves."

Palin made history on December 4, 2006, when she was sworn-in as the first woman and youngest governor of Alaska. She was also the state's first governor who was born after Alaska achieved statehood in 1959.

With an emphasis on ethics and openness in government, Palin's administration focused on education, public safety and transportation.

As a conservative Protestant, she is unabashedly pro-life. She opposes all abortions, unless the mother's life is in danger, said Curtis Smith, spokesman for the 2006 Palin campaign. Palin also said she opposes embryonic stem cell research.

She has supported the teaching of creationism, the belief that life was created by a deity, in public schools, alongside evolution, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News. She also said creationism "doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

The Anchorage Daily News also said Palin supported Alaska's decision to amend its constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

On the energy front, Palin has intensely pursued a pipeline to deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to market. In summer 2008, the state legislature approved her plan to give a $500 million subsidy to TransCanada, a Canadian company, to help build the project.

She also passed a major tax increase on state oil production, promising to give some of that money back to Alaskans in the form of a $1,200 check.

While very popular, Palin is not without personal controversy. An independent investigator hired by a legislative panel is looking into whether Governor Palin abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July 2008.

Lawmakers say they want to know whether Palin was angry at the commissioner for not firing an Alaska state trooper who went through a messy divorce and ongoing child custody battles with Palin's sister.

Palin denies any wrongdoing, saying Monegan was "insubordinate" in disputes over budget issues. She recently decided to stop cooperating with the investigation and Palin's husband, Todd, and several top aides have refused to comply with subpoenas.

Campaign aides described the state senator managing the investigation, Hollis French, as a Democratic partisan who is running a "tainted" inquiry. French has denied working on behalf of the Obama campaign. And the Obama campaign described the charge as "complete paranoia."

The inquiry is expected to be completed October 10, 2008.

Palin insists that the Personnel Board, whose members are appointed by the governor's office, is the only legitimate forum for inquiry. The governor's lawyer has met with the special counsel hired by the three-member board and Palin will cooperate with that inquiry, campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said September 22.

John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate on August 29, 2008, formally introducing her during a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio. Formally nominated on September 4 at the Republican National Convention, Palin is the second woman to run for vice president on a U.S. major party's ticket and the first Republican female to do so.

Addressing the party's convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sept. 3, Palin depicted herself as "just your average hockey mom," joking that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick.

In her first nationally televised interview since being named Republican John McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said she didn't hesitate when asked to join the ticket and believes she is prepared to run the country if necessary.

"I'm ready," Palin told ABC's Charles Gibson on Sept. 11, 2008. "I answered him 'yes' because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink."

On the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Palin hesitated when Gibson asked her whether she supported the Bush doctrine and asked "In what respect, Charlie?" Gibson defined the doctrine as a post-9/11 policy supportive of pre-emptive strikes against threats to the U.S. as articulated in advance of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend," Palin said. She also favored including Ukraine and Georgia in NATO, even the U.S. might have to go war if Russia were to invade Georgia again.

During the interview in Fairbanks, Alaska, Sarah Palin acknowledged that she's never met a leader of a foreign country and that she had visited only Canada and Mexico before a 2007 trip to Kuwait and Germany to visit U.S. troops. She cited her involvement in energy issues in oil-rich Alaska as a national security credential and added that she sees energy as a foundation of national security.

On the issue of energy, Palin renewed her support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, despite McCain's opposition. But she appeared to do a sharp turn towards McCain's view on the role humans play in climate change.

"I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change. ... Regardless of the reason for climate change, whether it's entirely, wholly caused by man's activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet - the warming and the cooling trends - regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it, and we have to make sure that we're doing all we can to cut down on pollution."

In an August 2008 interview with the conservative Web site Newsmax.com, Palin said, "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. ... I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made."

After her campaign lost the 2008 presidential election, Palin returned to her home state of Alaska to finish her term as governor. Palin is currently discussing plans to run for president in 2012.