Sarah Palin

She married her high school sweetheart Todd Palin on August 29, 1988. The couple has five children. Her family received considerable media attention in 2008 when it was revealed that her teenage daughter was pregnant out of wedlock. The girl ultimately gave birth to a son.

Sarah Palin was born as Sarah Louise Heath on February 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho, U.S. to Sarah, a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and field coach. She has three siblings. Her family moved frequently during her childhood and finally settled in Wasilla.

She attended the Wasilla High School where she was a versatile student with interests in music and sports. She was also the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

A pretty girl, she won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant in 1984 and then finished third in the Miss Alaska pageant.

She enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Hilo after high school and soon transferred to Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu and later to North Idaho College. She eventually completed her bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis on journalism from the University of Idaho in Moscow in May 1987.

She was employed as a sportscaster for KTUU-TV and KTVA-TV in Anchorage shortly after graduation. Eventually she became a sports reporter for the ‘Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman’.

She married Todd Palin in 1988 and became involved in her husband’s commercial fishing business.

Always a competitive and ambitious woman, she entered politics in 1992 by earning a seat in the Wasilla City Council. From the very beginning of her political career Palin has been a Republican.

Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, successfully defeating incumbent mayor John Stein. In this position she reduced spending and cut property taxes while raising the city sales tax. She ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won another term as the mayor. She stepped down after the completion of her second term in 2002.

Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002 but lost. Ever the gritty soul, she set her aims higher and ran for the office of governor of Alaska in 2006. She defeated Tony Knowles and made history by becoming the state’s first female governor as well as the youngest.

Sarah Palin proved to be a very popular politician as the Governor of Alaska. In this position she focused on resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development.

A conservative Christian, she advocated pro-life policies and opposed abortion in all cases. She is also against embryonic stem cell research. Her religious ideals impressed a lot of Alaskans when she supported Alaska's decision to amend its constitution to ban same-sex marriage.