Current Position: Fox News Contributor
Career History: Reality show star (2010); Governor of Alaska (January 2007 to July 2009); GOP vice presidential nominee (2008); Wasilla Mayor (1996 to 2002); Chairwoman Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (2003 to 2004); Wasilla City Council member (1992 to 1996); Television sports reporter (1987 to 1989); Co-owner commercial fishing operation (1988 to 2007); Owner, snow machine, watercraft, and all-terrain vehicle business (1994 to 1997)
Birthday: Feb. 11, 1964
Hometown: Wasilla, Alaska
Alma Mater: University of Idaho, B.S. in communications-journalism, 1987
Spouse: Todd Palin
Religion:Christian
State Office: P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0001
(907) 465-3500
Web site: Help Complete
Palin, a relative unknown before the 2008 presidential election, managed to do what no GOP presidential candidate could for their party throughout the Republican primary: energize the conservative base.
Months after her bid as the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee failed, Palin shocked the political world when she resigned the Alaska governorship in July 2009, citing the distraction of the media glare.
Since then, she has become a leading contender in the 2012 presidential race with her unconventional, new media approach to politics, starting with her Facebook communications to fans, best-selling 2009 book "Going Rogue: An American Life" and gig as a Fox News contributor. In 2010, she also appeared on a reality-TV show for The Learning Channel called Sarah Palin's Alaska that featured Palin and her family exploring the "final frontier."
She also raised scads of money for SarahPAC, which she began donating to 2010 female GOP candidates that she dubbed "Mama Grizzlies," and became the hero of the anti-establishment tea party that wielded so much clout in those races.
A number of candidates she has endorsed in the 2010 midterms won, underscoring her potential political clout heading into 2012. But that clout also caused problems as she was targeted by liberals in the aftermath of the January 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) for overheated political rhetoric (Palin had drawn a crosshairs symbol over Giffords' district during the campaign, though an aide said it wasn't intended to be a gun symbol).
Palin was the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket, but that fact seemed to be almost an afterthought in the fervor of the 2008 election. The vivacious former PTA mother of five, who knows how to wield both a shotgun and a fishing pole, instantly captured the hearts of the party faithful.
Throughout her meteoric political career, Palin has positioned herself as an outsider, which wasn’t hard considering she’s never been a hands-on favorite to win any of her elected positions. She earned her political chops exposing the GOP elite’s corrupt dealings with Alaska’s vibrant oil industry, which caused the Republican establishment in her state to abandon her during her 2006 bid for the governorship.
These kinds of unapologetic, take-charge actions, coupled with Palin’s positions on social issues,caused even the most hard-line members of the conservative base to become infatuated with Palin during her vice-presidential run. Shortly after Palin was announced as McCain’s vice presidential choice, talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh declared during one of his programs, “Sarah Palin: Babies, guns and Jesus. Hot damn!”
"I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," she said about the option of serving out the last 18 months of her term as governor as a lame duck. "I promised efficiencies and effectiveness. That's not how I'm wired. I'm not wired to operate under the same politics as usual."
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