Palin is the first woman governor of Alaska, elected in 2006. She was also the youngest ever elected at the age of 42. She is the mother of five children, the youngest of whom was born in April and has Down syndrome. She ran on a clean government platform in 2006 to defeat the incumbent Republican Governor Frank Murkowski.

Palin is a social conservative who is strongly opposed to abortion and same sex marriage. In addition, she is pro-gun and wildly popular in Alaska.

In Palin, McCain has chosen someone with no experience on the national stage and no foreign policy experience. But she is a reformer, popular with conservatives and is considered tough enough to deal with what may come.