Biography: Who is Gov. Sarah Palin? | Newsweek Politics: Conventions

Vital facts on her life and career.

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Who is Sarah Palin?

From beauty queen to vice-presidential candidate. A look at the life and career of John McCain's historic choice for a running mate.

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Aug 29, 2008 | Updated: 3:50 p.m. ET Aug 29, 2008

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Born: Feb. 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho, third of four children

Grew up: Wasilla, Alaska (moved to Alaska as an infant, to Wasilla in the early '70s)

Education: Graduated from in University of Idaho in 1987 with major in journalism, minor in politics

Religion: Protestant, attended nondenominational Bible churches growing up

Hobbies: Ice fishing, snowmobiling, hunting, running marathons

Married:Todd Palin, her high-school sweetheart, in 1988

His job: Formerly a commercial fisherman, now a production operator for BP on the North Slope for about 20 years

His hobbies: Four-time winner of the Iron Dog, the longest snowmobile race in the world

Children: Track (18), Bristol (17), Willow (13), and Piper (7), Trig (4 months). Track is scheduled to deploy to Iraq on Sept. 11. Trig was born with Down syndrome.

Nicknames: "Sarah Barracuda" for tenacity on basketball court as point guard in high school. "No Show Sarah" for missing campaign appearances during governor run.

Favorite food: "Moose stew after a day of snowmachining," according to an interview in Vogue magazine

Career timeline:

After college: Covered sports for local Anchorage TV stations, helped husband run commercial fishing business
1992: Returned to Wasilla, served on city council
1996-2002: Mayor of Wasilla
2002: Ran for lieutenant governor, finished second in Republican primary
April 2003-January 2004: Chair of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation. During that time she helped expose ethical violations of Republican state chairman Randy Ruedrich, who resigned in November 2004
2006: Ran against incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in Republican primary, got 51 percent of vote. In general election, defeated Democrat Tony Knowles 49 percent to 41 percent.

Compiled by Samantha Henig

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers ... and then there are educators . .

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Posted By: estark @ 09/28/2008 1:34:24 AM

woman from Alaska...i WILL NOT vote palin...read the facts... "it's all about me" palin
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Posted By: willnotvoteobama @ 09/03/2008 12:35:44 PM

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers ... and then there are educators . .
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Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 09/02/2008 9:38:21 PM

All you lefties crack me up. Palin is a great choice and all your screeching and caterwalling prove it! She is the greatest threat to the left-wing since Clarence Thomas!

It's going to be a loooong Sept and October for all you Obamabots...hahahahahaha