Age: 44
Experience: Alaska governor since December 2006; made unsuccessful bid for Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2002; chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, 2003-04; served two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and two terms on its City Council.
Education: Graduated from the University of Idaho, 1987, with a degree in journalism.
Family: Husband, Todd, a high school sweetheart, is an oil worker on Alaska's North Slope. They have five children -- the fifth born a day after she gave a keynote address at the Republican Governors Association conference in April.
Before politics: Worked as a sports reporter for two Anchorage television stations; owned with her husband a snowmobile, watercraft, ATV business from 1994-97.
On social issues: A social conservative who takes a strong stance against abortion and opposes gay marriage -- constitutionally banned in Alaska before her time -- but exercised a veto that essentially granted benefits to gay and lesbian state employees and their partners.
Tidbits: Interests include hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and running. Her husband is the three-time champion of the world's longest snow machine race (the Iron Dog). She is a lifetime member of the NRA. She led her high school basketball team to the 1982 state championship. She competed in the Miss Alaska contest after being chosen Miss Wasilla 1984. Her favorite meal is moose-meat stew after a day of snow-machining.
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