Sarah Palin, Former Beauty Queen – VP Candidate

Sarah Louise Palin,44, Governor of Alaska is the Republican US vice presidential candidate for the November 2008 election. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee McCain chooses female Sarah as his running mate. She and John McCain will take on Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Republican Sarah Palin was elected Alaska’s first woman Governor in 2006. Now 44, she’s also the youngest in state history.

Gov. Palin grew up in Wasilla, where as star of her high school basketball team she got the nickname Sarah Barracudafor her fierce competitiveness. She led her underdog team to the state basketball championship.

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. In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.