Sarah Louise Palin ( ; née Heath; born February 11, 1964) is the Governor of the American state of Alaska. Palin was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and the city's mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska in November 2006. Palin is the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest person elected governor of that state.

Palin was the Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee for the 2008 United States presidential election, on the ticket with Senator John McCain. Palin was the second female candidate and the first Alaskan candidate of either major party on a national ticket, as well as the first female vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Since McCain's defeat in the 2008 election, there has been speculation that Palin will run for president in the 2012 presidential election.

Early life and education

Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children of Sarah Heath (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach. The family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. The family regularly ran 5 km and 10 km races.

Palin attended Wasilla High School in Wasilla, located 44 miles (71 km) north of Anchorage. She was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school, a member of the girls' cross country team, and the captain and point guard of the school's girls' basketball team that won the Alaska state championship in 1982.

After graduating from high school in 1982, she enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College in Honolulu. She left after one semester and transferred to North Idaho College, a community college in Coeur d'Alene, where she spent two semesters as a general studies major in 1983. In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant, then finished third in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant,

In August 1984, she transferred to the University of Idaho in Moscow, where her older brother, Charles W. Heath, was majoring in education. After two semesters at UI, Palin returned to Alaska and attended Matanuska-Susitna College, a community college in Palmer, for one term in the fall of 1985. She returned to the University of Idaho in January 1986, where she spent three semesters completing her bachelor's degree in communications-journalism, graduating in May 1987.

In 1988, she worked as a sports reporter for KTUU-TV and KTVA-TV in Anchorage,

Early political career

main: Early political career of Sarah Palin

Wasilla city council

Palin was elected twice to the city council of Wasilla, in 1992 and 1995. Wasilla city councilors serve three-year terms. Palin says she entered politics because she was concerned that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely.