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Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was his choice as vice presidential running mate on Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.

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The Associated Press

FAIRBANKS -- Who is Sarah Palin?

That question will be on the minds of Americans in the next several weeks as they get a feel for the Alaskan tapped by Sen. John McCain as the Republican nominee for vice president of the United States.

Alaska’s first female governor isn’t easily defined, despite tremendous popularity ratings throughout the state. She’s a political reformer unafraid to run up against the party machine, and has baked fresh cookies for state legislators. She’s a mother of five, the oldest son preparing to deploy to Iraq from his Army post at Fort Wainwright, the youngest son a newborn with DowN syndrome. She earned the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” for aggressiveness on the high school basketball court, and earned a new nickname, Miss Wasilla, in a beauty pageant.

She’s been a commercial fisherman and TV sportscaster, a hockey mom and a sportswoman.

Now, she could be vice president.

Curtis Smith transitioned Palin into the governor’s office in 2006 as campaign communications director.

He didn’t have to search his memory long to retrieve a defining moment exemplifying Palin — the day she announced her run for governor, hoping to rise above incumbent Frank Murkowski and Democrat challenger Tony Knowles, a former governor.

“She decided to announce her run in her house on Alaska Day,” Smith said. “It was also her daughter’s birthday.”

He reflected on supporters gathered in blue jeans sipping from cups of plain old drip coffee.

Palin made the most important decision of her life from her own home, Smith said, and was motivated purely by the desire to make a better home for her family, friends and neighbors.

“It was as grounded and as real a snapshot as of our governor as you’ll ever see, and she’ll never change,” Smith said. “She’s an Alaskan first, and I don’t suspect that will ever leave her. We know where her heart is.”

The future governor was born Feb. 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho. Her family moved to Alaska a few months later.

Palin was in the spotlight as a leading player on the state champion Wasilla High School girls’ basketball team. Months later she was crowned Miss Wasilla in a beauty pageant, then named first runner-up for the Miss Alaska title.

She tried two Hawaii colleges before transferring to Idaho, according to a 2008 biography, “Sarah,” by Kaylene Johnson, a Wasilla resident. Home from school each summer, Palin joined her high school boyfriend, Todd, fishing commercially in Bristol Bay. She graduated from the Univeristy of Idaho in Moscow in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in political science, and moved to Anchorage to work as a weekend TV sportscaster.

In August 1988, Sarah eloped with Todd, a lifelong Alaskan.

She entered the political world in 1992 as a 28-year-old Wasilla City Council member, running a successful campaign on the promise of a new face and new voice. She served two terms before running for mayor on a platform of fresh ideas and energy to replace stale leadership. She served two terms.

Palin took her political career to the next level with primary election bid for the Republican candidacy for lieutenant governor. She lost, but narrowly. Winner Loren Leman spent about $174,000 and garnered 29 percent of the party vote, while Palin collected 27 percent, spending about $40,000 and describing herself as a hard-core fiscal conservative. People commented on her “dynamic personality” and bought into her promises to tighten up state government spending.

During that campaign she was quoted as saying that the Republican Party reputation as an old, white guys’ club had to change.

Palin campaigned actively for Frank Murkowski’s successful bid for governor that year, appearing often in TV ads and alongside U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. When Murkowski looked for someone to fill the U.S. Senate seat he vacated upon election as governor, the Web site www.GOPUSA.com launched an unscientific survey in which Palin was marked a favorite.

However, in December 2002, Murkowski appointed Palin to a full-time position on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, an $118,000-a-year job that some decried as a political favor.

The commission made headlines in late 2003 when Palin and a state lawmaker charged that commission member and state GOP chair Randy Ruedrich violated the state’s ethics act. Ruedrich resigned and, in early 2004, so did Palin, who said a state rule that prohibited her from talking about the ethics complaint violated her own beliefs about public service.

Later in 2004, Palin was named by some as a potential challenger to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Palin announced in April she would not run, saying her family did not want to relocate to Washington, D.C.

In mid-2005, Palin said she was considering a bid for governor in 2006, and was noted as a potential lieutenant governor running mate for Independent candidate Andrew Halcro. The same year she and a state lawmaker filed an ethics complaint against attorney general Gregg Renkes.

She earned the governorship in 2006, beating incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski and former Gov. Tony Knowles. Since that time Palin has enjoyed high approval ratings statewide. News photographs often depict her in the office or at a public appearance with at least one of her children, and most recently with husband Todd at her side, cradling baby Trig. She’s known among the trend-conscious for stylish, feminine attire and a messy trademark bun. She also appeared in 'Vogue' magazine in early 2008.

Her administration notably secured legislative approval of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in 2007, which issued a special license to TransCanada in August 2008 to build a natural gas pipeline.

Palin’s time as governor hasn’t been without controversy. An independent investigator is looking into charges that Palin may have abused her position in firing former state public safety commissioner Walt Monegan.

The Alaska governor was mentioned nationally as a potential McCain running mate as early as February.

Ben Porritt, spokesman for the McCain 2008 campaign, said the presidential candidate first met Palin in February 2008 at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, and was immediately impressed.

In particular, he admired her tenacity and strong reform credentials, Porritt said.

The two spoke on the phone Aug. 24, Palin from the Alaska State Fair in Palmer and McCain at his Phoenix home. McCain’s formal invitation to join the Republican ticket was made on the deck of the family home Aug. 28.

Palin flew with her family in Ohio later that day. The children had been told they were going to Ohio to celebrate their parents’ wedding anniversary, Porritt said, but once there were told their mother would be the vice presidential nominee.

Smith, Palin’s former campaign spokesman, said he expects the governor to face a new level of pressure as she walks onto a national stage and media flock to Alaska seeking answers to the question: Who is Sarah Palin? With several high-profile campaigns to her credit, the candidate has been fairly well vetted within the state — but the national stage could be another matter, he said.

“I think there have been times when she’s largely enjoyed a honeymoon with the media,” Smith said. “It will be a different ball game. There are probably no empty flights to Alaska right now.”