Sarah Louise Palin (/ˈpeɪlɪn/ ⓘ PAY-lin; née Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009.

[21] During her senior year, she was co-captain and point guard of the basketball team that won the 1982 Alaska state championship, earning the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her competitive streak.

She joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[74] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, then the attorney general of Alaska,[75] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.

[22][72] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.

[126] In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.

"[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.

[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau.

"[131][142] Chuck Kopp, whom Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job.

[152] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired.

[158] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the Personnel Board on behalf of Palin.

[182] Some of them, such as Bill Kristol, later urged McCain to pick Palin as his vice presidential running mate, arguing that her presence on the ticket would provide a boost in enthusiasm among the Religious Right wing of the Republican party, while her status as an unknown on the national scene would also be a positive factor.

[185] According to Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for McCain, he had previously met Palin at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington in February 2008 and had come away "extraordinarily impressed.

[193] Wall Street Journal writer Thomas Frank noted the irony in her unattributed quoting of right-wing faux populist Westbrook Pegler's treacly, "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity.

[201] Following this interview, some Republicans, including Mitt Romney and Bill Kristol, questioned the McCain campaign's strategy of sheltering Palin from unscripted encounters with the press.

[210] Controversy arose after it was reported that the Republican National Committee (RNC) spent $150,000 of campaign contributions on clothing, hair styling, and makeup for Palin and her family in September 2008.

She stated that it would require Americans such as her parents or her child with Down syndrome, "to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care.

[276] According to The Daily Beast reporter Shushannah Walshe, Christine O'Donnell's unlikely prospects of upsetting establishment Republican candidate Mike Castle "changed overnight" due to Palin's endorsement.

[281] Another Palin endorsement carried Nevada's Sharron Angle to a 40.1% primary win,[282] in the race to beat highly endangered incumbent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"[291] In November 2010, Palin confirmed that she was considering running for the White House, but realized that her level of experience could make it difficult to win the nomination and criticized the "lamestream media" for focusing attention on her personal life.

[294] In October 2014, Palin endorsed the "unity ticket" of Independent Bill Walker and Democrat Byron Mallott in the 2014 Alaska gubernatorial election, which ran against her successor and former lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell.

The Times pointed out that a link to an advertisement from Palin's political action committee showed stylized crosshairs over the congressional districts held by 20 Democrats, including Giffords.

[303][304] The Times later issued a correction, stating that no connection between the Palin advertisement and the Giffords shooting had been established and clarifying that what was depicted in the crosshairs in the ad were "electoral districts, not individual Democratic lawmakers."

[318] Al Gross, an independent, had dropped out of the "top four" runoff, leaving two Republicans remaining, Palin and Nick Begich III, along with Democratic ex-state House member, Alaska Native Mary Peltola.

[331] Palin believes evolution "should be taught as an accepted principle" and said that her belief in God's role in Earth's creation "is not part of the state policy or a local curriculum in a school district.

A Life Member of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA),[333] Palin interprets the Second Amendment as including the right to handgun possession and opposes bans on semi-automatic assault weapons.

[339] Palin considers herself a conservationist[340] and during the 2008 campaign said "of global warming, climate change, whether it's entirely, wholly caused by man's activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet...John McCain and I agree that we have to make sure that we're doing all we can to cut down on pollution.

She stated, "[S]topping domestic energy production of preferred fuels does not solve the issues associated with global warming and threatened or endangered species, but it can make them worse...

She attacked what she called "heavy-handed" environmental laws and cited her 2008 suit, as Alaska's governor, against the federal government to overturn the listing of polar bears as a threatened species.

In a September 9, 2015, speech, she said, "Only in an Orwellian Obama world full of sparkly fairy dust blown from atop his unicorn as he's peeking through a pretty pink kaleidoscope would he ever see victory or safety for America or Israel in this treaty.

"[372] Following the convention, her image came under close media scrutiny,[373][374] particularly with regard to her religious perspective on public life, her socially conservative views, and her perceived lack of experience or intelligence.