Sarah Palin, the future Vice President of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />United States<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
J. Michael Sharman
 
            In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket.
            On August 29, 2008, John McCain named Sarah Palin as the woman who will actually become the first female Vice President of the United States.
            When she was elected as Alaska's governor in 2006, National Public Radio said, "She's a moose-burger-eating, snow-mobile-riding maverick who's not afraid to take on fellow Republicans she disagrees with."
            Obviously, she's no Washington Beltway Insider like Joe Biden who has been in the U.S. Senate for 35 years. But because she's also not as well known, here's her short biography.
The 44 year-old Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, on February 11, 1964. When she was three months old, her parents moved to Wasilla, Alaska after accepted teaching jobs there.
Sarah Palin grew up there, just outside of Anchorage, played on Wasilla's state champion girls' basketball team in 1982, and won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant in 1984. (When she became Alaska's governor, Alaskan convenience stores began selling bumper stickers declaring: "Coldest State, Hottest Governor.")
She attended the University of Idaho, and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.
For two years, she worked as a television sports reporter before becoming co-owner of a commercial fishing operation in Alaska.
Her husband, Todd, is part Yup'ik Eskimo, and competes in the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. Sarah is a fisher, hunter, and lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.
She describes herself as a hockey mom with five children: Track, 19; Bristol 17; Willow 14; Piper, 7, and Trig, who was just born on April 18, 2008.
The oldest son, Track, enlisted in the Army on September 11, 2007 on 9/11's sixth anniversary. An infantryman, he will be deployed to Iraq this September.
No political novice, Sarah Palin was first elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992. In 1996, she was elected mayor, and served two terms. In 2003, she was appointed chairwoman of the powerful Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The current Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich was also an AOGCC commissioner. As chairwoman, Palin exposed him for ethical violations.
In 2005, Palin co-filed an ethics complaint against the Republican attorney general, Gregg Renkes, for having a financial interest in a company that was likely to benefit from an international trade deal he was helping to broker.
On December 4, 2006 Todd Palin held the Bible for his wife, Sarah Palin, when she was sworn in as the youngest governor in Alaskan history in 2006 after upsetting the incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary, and then defeating former governor Tony Knowles in the general election.
As governor, Palin asked Alaska's congressional delegation to be more selective in seeking earmarks after the "Bridge to Nowhere" turned into a national symbol of pork-barrel spending. She also successfully passed a state tax increase on oil company profits over the opposition of  oil industry lobbyists.
Governor Palin's labor with her youngest child, Trig, began a month early while she was in Texas with her husband, Todd, for the Republican Governors Association convention. When the labor hit, she flew to Anchorage where she delivered the baby.
At his birth, the Palin family issued a statement that read: "Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."
Trig Palin has Down syndrome.
Gov. Palin is strongly pro-life and opposes same-sex marriage, and is perhaps best known to those outside Alsaka for aggressively pushing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
            Todd Palin will again have Bible-holding duties for Sarah Palin on January 20, 2009 when she takes the oath of office as America's first female Vice President.
 
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