Sen. John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House, Fox News reports. The 44-year-old Palin, now in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state’s top political job.
Born in Idaho, Palin moved to Alaska with her parents, to Charles and Sally Heath, when she was 3 months old.
She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, and played on the Wasilla state championship girls’ basketball team. Palin studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho and graduated in 1987. She married Todd Palin in 1988. She helped out in her husband’s family commercial fishing business and appeared occasionally as a television sportscaster.
Palin won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992 as a new face and a new voice, and by opposing tax increases. Four years later she was elected mayor at 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent. At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics. She was elected Alaska’s youngest and first woman governor in 2006.
Sarah and Todd Palin have five children: boys Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. Track Palin joined the Army last September and will deploy to Iraq on Sept. 11. Palin gave birth to Trig, who has Down syndrome, in April and returned to work three days later.
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47 Responses
This is a smart pick – any hillary supporter with a half a brain is now going to support mccain – All of a sudden Obama & Biden look like the ones worn, tired & boring
If the account is true (other media offer contrary information), it might hurt McCain since she has minimal experience, even compared to Obama (2 years as a Governor, several as mayor of a small suburb). Midos-wise, she is outstanding (pro-life, refused to abort child with Down syndrome).
I’ve done some research about her
she seems like a great choice
she pretty much a pro lifer and a stand up person
great choice
Very interesting choice and a dark horse candidate. 44 years old, seems to have very little experience – a mayor of an Alaskan town and first-term governor. The anti-McCain in terms of age, but I wonder if she can hold her ground in a VP debate w/ Biden. Probably has ties to the oil companies – in favor of Alaskan drilling (McCain is opposed to that) and husband is an oil developer. I also wonder if she was the pick as someone who won’t overshadow McCain (i.e. Romney) or b/c he hopes to attract the on-the-fence women voters.
I’m not 100% sure what McCain thinks she brings to the table other than her gender and age. And, of course, her executive branch experience,albeit limited. But, of the 4 – McCain/Palin vs. Obama/Biden – Palin is the only one with executive branch experience. And Governors have historically done well in races where the opponent was a Senator.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Gives Birth to Down Baby Despite Abortion Pressure
by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com Editor
Juneau, AK
(LifeNews.com) — As many as 80 percent of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome become victims of abortion, but Alaska Gov, Sarah Palin didn’t let her child become a statistic. Palin, who has deeply-felt pro-life views, gave birth to her fifth child this week and the baby was diagnosed with the condition.On Tuesday, Palin confirmed her baby, named Trig Paxson, has Down syndrome.”Trig is beautiful and already adored by us,” Palin said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained.”We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives,” she said.’We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.”
Billy Valentine, a pro-life student leader who worked on the presidential campaign of Sam Brownback, was equally excited.”Thanks be to God that Gov. Palin is pro-life and the baby wasn’t one of the 80% of Down syndrome lives that are aborted each year,” he said.”Say a prayer for Gov. Palin and her family and thank God that the baby is blessed with a pro-life family,” Valentine added.
The Palins have four other children including Track, 18, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13 and Piper, 7.
Just as I was thinking she might make a good presidential candidate. . .
First Female Alaskan Governor and Potential Republican VP Candidate
The politicos are all abuzz over whom John McCain will choose as his running mate for the 2008 presidential elections. Rush Limbaugh is pushing for Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, right down to designing a logo for a McCain-Palin ticket. Nothing is close to being decided as yet, but here’s a closer look at Sarah Palin and her chances for being on the 2008 Republican ballot.
Family and personal background
Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Charles and Sally (Sheeran) Heath.[4] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.[5] Charles Heath was a science teacher and track coach.[5] The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family would regularly run 5k and 10k races.[5]
Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” because of her intense play.[5] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.[5] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.[5]
In 1984, after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, Palin finished second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant which won her a scholarship to help pay her way through college.[5] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.
Palin holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics.
Her husband, Todd, is a Native Yup’ik Eskimo.[5] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on Alaska’s North Slope[6] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile “Iron Dog” race four times.[5] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[5] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[7]
She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[5] One summer when she was working on Todd’s fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[5]
On September 11, 2007, the Palins’ eighteen-year-old son Track, eldest of five, joined the Army.[7] He now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September 2008. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17; Willow, 13; and Piper, 7.[8] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[9] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[10] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. “I’m looking at him right now, and I see perfection,” Palin said. “Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?”[10]
Details of Palin’s personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose hamburger, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.[11][12] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.[13]
Pre-gubernatorial political experience
Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes.[5] The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed.[5] Palin kept her campaign promises, reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes by 60%.[5] She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin.[5][14] Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.[8]
In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a four-way race. After Frank Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in mid-term to become governor, Palin interviewed to be his possible successor. Instead, Murkowski appointed his daughter, then-Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski.[5]
Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,[15] where she served from 2003 to 2004 until resigning in protest over what she called the “lack of ethics” of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest.[5] After she resigned, she exposed the state Republican party’s chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time, and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.[16] Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.[5]
Governorship
Governor Palin visits a wounded soldier in Landstuhl, Germany, July 2007In 2006, Palin, running on a clean-government campaign, executed an upset victory over then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[5] Despite the lack of support from party leaders and being outspent by her Democratic opponent, she went on to win the general election in November 2006, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles.[5] Palin said in 2006 that education, public safety, and transportation would be three cornerstones of her administration.[13]
When elected, Palin became the first woman to be Alaska’s governor, and the youngest governor in Alaskan history at 42 years old upon taking office. Palin was also the first Alaskan governor born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood. She was also the first Alaskan governor not to be inaugurated in Juneau, instead choosing to hold her inauguration ceremony in Fairbanks. She took office on December 4, 2006.
Highlights of Governor Palin’s tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.[10][17] “Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on ‘federal dollars,’ as the state does today.”[11]
She has challenged the state’s Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young[18] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.[10] Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard praised Palin as a “politician of eye-popping integrity” and referred to her rise as “a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle—especially to transparency and accountability in government—can produce political success.”[11]
In 2007, Palin had an approval rating often in the 90s.[11] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin’s approval rating at 80%.[19]
Energy policies
Palin’s tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.[11][10] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors, to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.[20]
Shortly after taking office, Palin rescinded thirty-five appointments made by Murkowski in the last hour of his administration, including the appointment by Murkowski of his former chief of staff Jim Clark to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority.[21][22] Clark later pled guilty to conspiring with a defunct oil-field-services company to channel money into Frank Murkowski’s re-election campaign.[23]
In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state’s North Slope.[24] Only one legislator, Representative Ralph Samuels, voted against the measure,[25] and in June Palin signed it into law.[26][27] On January 5, 2008, Palin announced that a Canadian company, Transcanada, was the sole AGIA-compliant applicant.[28][29]
In response to high oil and gas prices, and in response to the resulting state government budget surplus, Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers’ rates.[30] She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and in its place she proposed to send Alaskans $1,200 directly and eliminate the gas tax.[31][32]
Social issues
Palin is strongly pro-life (but pro-death penalty)[citation needed] and belongs to Feminists for Life.[13]
She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination.[13] While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with a state Supreme Court order and signed them into law.[33] She disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling[34] and supported a democratic advisory vote from the public on whether there should be a constitutional amendment on the matter.[35] Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, in 1998, along with Hawaii.[36]
Palin’s first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska’s attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.[34]
Deep right field, back at the wall…. ITS GONE!! A Grand Slam for McCain!!
Smart man! I think I’m gonna vote for him just because of this decision. I guess he’s trying for all the hillary votes
No picture?
Nu, so is she liberal or conservative, jewish or gentile, good for jewish votes or not etc etc – please tell us Yeshiva World.
Besides for the fact that we can”t have a picture of her in the Yated or Hamodia, I think she is good for jews.
Now if they flipped the ticket, THAT would be something worse considering. Palin is said to be strong on keeping marriage proper, the death penalty, gun ownership, and pro-life. If only people thought McCain held the same way, then people would not be so upset with the GOP ticket. Nice strategy, but I don’t think it will work.
WHO CARES!!!!!
Gov. Palin’s baby was diagnosed with Down Syndrome while she was still pregnant, and she chose not to have an abortion. This should be a positive force for conservative voters. Here is her quote, which is quite beautiful:
“Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.”
hey, show us a picture of the vp candidate.
WOW, I hope this was the right choice…
Good gamble on McCain’s part for two reasons:
1: There are many disinfranchised woman since Hillary’s downfall.
2: Mrs. Palin is young and this couterbalances Mr. McCain’s age.
We will know on November 5, 2008 if this gamble will pay dividens (and principle of course).
Let’s daven.
ok just when the yated, hamodia, and the rest of them thought they will be able to avoid featuring a woman in their publications – well guys go back and huddle on how you will cover the next 4 years!!!
Brilliant choice!
That is great news and a strong ticket. Pallin will grab the disenfranchised clinton vote. SHe is a confimed doer and young.
John Mccain is an absolute genius! He just burst the bubble that was Barack Obama! First of all, Mccain will now get all the woman voters that were going to vote for Clinton, and now the Mccain campaign has the aura of change that Obama had.
Well… seems like the election is over… Mazel Tov to President Obama!
Is she Jewish?
The fact that she has a child with Downs Syndrome, means that she doesn’t believe in abortion. I guess that she will also be sympathetic to the needs of special children & kids at risk. This election campaign should be very interesting.
Sarah and Todd Palin have five children: boys Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.
“Creative” names.
Great move!
A down to earth, balanced, ethical, pro-life, human being.
Wow – she had a downs child – knew about it and still had the kid. Shofaych dam baAdam damo yeshafech and it is more chamur by goyim then by Yidden. She should have all of our votes!
Well this ought to make things interesting… At least she actually has a track record of fighting corruption, instead of just promising it.
this is a strong team now, Sarah has a lot of experience and when they hear her people will be impressed.
and she is Jewish BTW
sorry, 99% cannot be Jewish, just some people think so
that will be cleared up pretty soon
Morally repugnant, politically brilliant.
Unqualified as a VP, but she will get McCain new votes, putting him on top (if he wouldn’t have won anyways.)
Sarah Palin is NOT Jewish.
illini07,
She has no experience .. and Obama does???!
Shmuelt (#33):
Are you sure? I heard otherwise…
shmuelt, where did you hear that, because that is wrong. She is a Protestant.
Only selected because of her gender; but will help get additional votes.
She doesn’t have any less experience than Obama, and he’s the one running for president. Who cares that Biden would be ready to serve as pres on Jan 20th, that’s not what he’s running for???
Shmuelt, please do your research or give us a source.
shmuelt: btw, no she isnt, she is a christian. Sarah was originally baptized as a Catholic, but was rebaptized at age 12 by the Wasilla Assembly of God Church. She currently worships at The Church on the Rock, an independent congregation, and describes herself as a non-denominational Christian. Doesnt sound too jewish to me.
illini07: yes she does, at least more then teh other 3 people as far as executive goes. befire being governor she was a mayor, albeit of a small city, it makes no differance, as budgeting is the same whether a city is small or big, you have a budget, and you need to meet it. she has a been an extremely effective and popular governor for 2 years, and she has told congress where to go on many occasions, especially as far as teh bridge to nowhere was concerned. she has corruption removal experience through running the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which had the job of removing corruption in alaskan oil.
as far as military, besides mccain, she technically has the next most experience, as she is the commander in chief of the alaska national guard, which before you knock it, is one of the most well trained, efficient, and important national guard units deployed presently overseas.
yes, 2 years is short, but remeber, she is running for vp. obama is running for president, and he has no experience doing anything, but running for offices, and handing out fliers as a community activist. his one piece of legislation was a no brainer, one that was opposed by no one, to not allow terrorists to have nukes. yay obama, you’re brilliant. he has fought zero corruption, since all his mentors and teachers were the corruption in chicago. ayers, rezko, both pastors in his church, and the list goes one. biden, hes just an idiot, and he is a plagarizer to boot. sarah will make mince meat out of him, literally.
JOHN MCCAIN will be our next commander in chief, and SARAH PALIN will be our next VP!
Rumors for left wing radio have it that she’s under investigation, though that doesn’t seem likely and that she was pro Buchanan at some point. Anyone have the scoop on this?
And about pictures: even with good filters, you should be able to dig up something off the net from other sources.
Pro Buchanan Does NOT mean that she is anti-Israel! She has a pretty good connection with the chabad in AK according to their site.
charliehall, You are voting anyway for Rev. Wright’s boy, so whats the issue? You obviously appreciate his many years of “experience” with Tony Rezko, Moussa Marzook, William Ayers, and Allison Davis to help him serve as Commander in Chief.
In fact Palin was a declared supporter of Steve Forbes for President in 2000. She did welcome Buchanan to Wasilla, Alaska (where she was Mayor) when he visited in ’99, but she was not a supporter. The false rumors are a result of an erroneous Associated Press story from ’99 implying she supported Buchanan. Palin wrote a letter to the editor back in ’99, immediately after the AP story ran, stating she did not support Buchanan.
I just found a video of Palin in her office in Juneau. There is a small Israeli flag in the background attached to a window.
illini:
Obama claims he does not subscribe to that racist Wright’s beliefs, yet remained in his congreagation for TWENTY PLUS YEARS?
Who are we kidding here? You are only deceiving yourself.
charliehall:
Do you have any clue how little I could care less?
Incidentally illini, Palin is on the record as having been Forbes’ campaign co-chair in Anchorage in 2000. And she corrected the record with a letter to the editor IMMEDIATELY after the erroneous AP story ran implying she was a Buchanan story 9 years ago, when she was not a national figure.
Obama “broke” his ties to Wright well into his Presidential campaign.
#49, why how racist it is for someone to call him Barack Hussein Obama. Its not like its his real name or something, is it?
charliehall – The only racist in the house is the one in your mirror.