Sarah Palin

Name at birth: Sarah Louise Heath

Sarah Palin, the first female governor of Alaska, was Republican candidate John McCain's running mate in the U.S. presidental elections of 2008. Palin was born in Idaho but moved to Alaska with her family when she was three months old. Two accomplishments from her youth have become especially well known: she played point guard for Wasilla High School's 1982 championship team, and she placed second in the Miss Alaska contest of 1984. After attending four different colleges, she earned a journalism degree from the University of Idaho in 1987, then returned to Alaska and married Todd Palin, her high school boyfriend, in 1988. After a few stints as a TV sportscaster in Anchorage, Palin joined the Wasilla city council in 1992, then served as the city's mayor from 1996-2002. She became Alaska's first woman governor on 4 December 2006, after running a campaign based on ethics and clean government. Two years later, in a surprise selection, Arizona senator McCain made her the Republican Party's first female candidate for vice president. She and McCain were defeated by the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but that didn't slow Palin's apparent presidential ambitions. She kept in the public eye throughout the beginning of 2009, making high-profile trips out of Alaska and giving hope to her fans. In a surprise move, she announced on 3 July 2009 that she would resign in the middle of her first term as governor, effective 26 July, and hand the job over to Lt. Governor Sean Parnell.