Sarah Palin Biography

Sarah Palin emerged on the political scene in Alaska in 2006, a self-described "hockey mom'' and small-town mayor who ousted the incumbent governor to become the youngest person and first woman to hold the post in a state whose government had been dominated by many of the same faces since its inception. She burst onto the national scene two years later, when Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, drafted her as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008.