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

CAMPAIGN 2008
An Apostle of Alaska
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
John McCain was not her dream pick. Only a year ago, when the Republican primaries were just beginning, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told NEWSWEEK that she wasn't enthusiastic about anyone in the GOP field. McCain was languishing at 7 percent in the polls. Mike Huckabee was reduced to playing his electric bass to get attention. Palin, driving with a NEWSWEEK reporter along the highway from Anchorage to Wasilla, said she could understand why the country was enthralled by the race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. "When you talk about the Republican Party needing appealing candidates, darn right they do!" she said. "The Democrats, whether you like them or not … there is some dynamic there, and it's something that the Republicans I think have lacked for some time."
CAMPAIGN 2008
A Democratic Muddle
Arian Campo-Flores 2/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
As the sun finally rose on Super Tuesday, the Democratic presidential candidates scrambled to make their last-minute pitches to voters across the country. From her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., Sen. Hillary Clinton barreled through one interview after another-some 30 in all, ranging from local radio stations to TV morning shows. The grueling campaign had clearly taken its toll: her voice was hoarse and her expression enervated, and she coughed so much during an interview with an Oakland TV station that it had to be cut short (after nursing her vocal chords with tea and honey, she picked up where she left off). Up in Boston, Sen. Barack Obama worked through his own procession of media appearances, knocking off 15 TV and three radio interviews before boarding a flight to Chicago. Later, addressing reporters at an elementary school where he and his wife voted, Obama could have been speaking for both campaigns. "I think everybody is flying blind on this one," he said. "We've got 22 states and nobody can keep track of it."
LETTERS
Molded by Life’s Experiences

'Becoming McCain': Readers attempted to reconcile the complex character of John McCain as presented in our cover story. One said, "Your informative history of McCain's prison experiences and postwar psychiatric evaluation evolved mainly into a report about his temper. I await with anticipation your report on the well-known temper tantrums of Hillary Clinton." Another wrote, "McCain is by far the most seasoned and mature candidate. As a former POW, he will not require any 'growing up in office.' I trust he will lead my country with honor at any age."
Who's A Rock - And Who Rolls

The Senate scorecard used to be easy to read. There were Republicans and there were Democrats, and the numbers always added up to 100. These days it's not so simple. The Democrats have regained control, barely, but it's a handful of mavericks from both parties who hold the real power. The faces of the new Capitol order.
POLITICS
Let The Party Begin

Let the party begin: like God Almighty himself, Ross Perot isn't finished with us yet. After months of quiet game-planning, he abruptly invited himself and his 800 number onto CNN's "Larry King Live" last week to launch the Independence Party. There will be a "convention" next spring in which thousands of voters will be linked by satellite and computers to adopt a party platform and choose their presidential standard-bearer. Perot doesn't want to be that man, he insisted, but he won't rule it out. "I love the fact that this is so unorthodox," he said.
Knowing When The Party's Over
Howard Fineman
In the 1992 presidential campaign, Black was a familiar figure, a strategist and spokesman for George Bush's campaign. A multimillionaire political consultant, clad in smoothly tailored suits, Black was a close confidant of James Baker-and argued successfully for a campaign based not only on conservative ideology, but on Bill Clinton's character.