An Apostle of Alaska

Palin was raised a devout Christian, attending an Assembly of God church from the age of 4 until she was 38, and baptized in the cold waters of Alaska's Little Beaver Lake when she was 12. (She now attends different churches, one in Wasilla and one in Juneau.) As a child, she went to services on Sundays and Bible class on Wednesdays. She participated in after-school religious groups, and sang in the church choir. Her entry in the Wasilla High School yearbook of her senior year included one quote: "He is the Light and in the Light there is Life."

The Assemblies of God puts great importance in the believer's receiving the Holy Spirit. The faithful sometimes show this by the "gift of tongues"—the babble of holy but unintelligible language that emerges when a believer is said to be caught up in the spirit of God. The practice wasn't encouraged in Palin's church when she was young, says her childhood pastor, Paul Riley, who is now retired. He preferred to preach that the Holy Spirit could move believers in other ways, and that tongues, while true, could be a showy "one-time experience." Palin didn't speak in tongues, Riley told NEWSWEEK, "but I do recall her being a gifted leader and a gifted speaker."

Michelle Overstreet, who played basketball with the sharp-elbowed "Sarah Barracuda" at Wasilla High School, says she was "just your regular church girl." All the team members were churchgoers, and they'd pray for five minutes before taking to the court. "It doesn't mean that we didn't go to parties or rock concerts," says Overstreet, "but we were really aware and engaged when it came to the religious community." Palin admits to smoking marijuana years ago (when it was legal in Alaska). She and Todd were high-school sweethearts. They eloped in 1988, and their first baby was born eight months later.

Her father, Chuck Heath, is a retired schoolteacher who took his four children ice-camping when they were young. Today he travels to different schools as a volunteer, teaching "Alaskana"—skills, Palin told NEWSWEEK in August last year, that include "hunting, fishing, avalanche survival, fending off bear attacks and taxidermy." Heath expected his children—three daughters and a son—to be crack shots and expert fishermen. Palin's mother, Sally Heath, was a school secretary. The front yard of the parents' house outside Wasilla is piled high with racks and pelts; walls of the family home are adorned with stuffed moose, antelope and bear heads. When Sarah and Todd were first married, they shot, butchered and cured their own meat. She doesn't have much time to cook now; that's usually Todd's job, though the kids complain about his elk stew.

The family was not political, or well connected. Palin told NEWSWEEK that she had no idea how her parents or siblings voted. "I never even really got a gist of their political affiliations or their leanings at all," she said. "There was never any kind of partisan talk." But Palin had an interest in politics, and first registered as a Republican in 1982.

She won her first election as Wasilla mayor with 616 votes, getting help and financial support from conservative groups. Some of her positions are clear: she's pro-life, opposing abortion in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger. She opposes same-sex marriage and favors teaching creationism alongside evolution in schools. But she hasn't pushed for legislative changes in any of those areas. Her reputation is built largely on standing up to corruption. But she's also regarded by political opponents as vindictive and petty. She's been known to mix personal interests in her own political life, leading to charges of hypocrisy.

Her toughness—or, to her critics, ruthlessness—was apparent from the start. Almost as soon as she won election as mayor of Wasilla, she started firing senior city officials, including the top librarian (who was soon rehired), the museum director and the police chief. (The officials served at the pleasure of the mayor, so she was within her rights to let them go.) There were newspaper stories at the time about whether Palin thought she could work with people who had supported her political opponents and who disagreed with her on issues. She vowed to change the law and bar political activity by local government workers, and imposed a gag order to keep city personnel from talking to the press. According to one local report, Palin floated the possibility of taking some books deemed to be offensive off the library shelves. The Frontiersman newspaper quoted Palin saying "many issues were discussed" with the librarian, "both rhetorical and realistic in nature"—suggesting the censorship issue was not serious. It quickly disappeared from public discussion.

The issue likely to get the most press in the coming months is "Troopergate." This concerns Palin's former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, and her alleged attempts to get him kicked off the state police force. Critics say she abused her power. Defenders say she was trying to protect her family against someone who posed a danger. The story is perhaps emblematic of how in Alaska, a state populated by fewer than 700,000 people, the personal can become political, and relationships are the common currency of public policy. Like many family feuds, it begins in happier times.

Palin didn't always regard Wooten as a bad guy. NEWSWEEK has obtained a reference letter she wrote for Wooten in January 2000. She described his good works as a volunteer in local police and youth auxiliary programs, including a stint as a football coach for 7- to 9-year-olds: "I have witnessed Mike's gift of calm and kindness toward many young kids here in Wasilla. I have never seen him raise his voice, nor lose patience, nor become aggitated [sic] in the presence of any child." She called him a "fine role model."