License to Thrive

"24"

Sen. John McCain has picked conservative Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin  as his running mate.  Palin represents the first woman on a major party Presidential ticket in 24 years and the first woman woman ever to be included on a Republican ticket.  Palin, 44, is in her first term as governor and is the first woman and the youngest person to hold Alaska's top political job.

She won the governorship using a platform position of a political outsider.  Previously, she was mayor and a council member of the town of Wasila and was chairman of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska's oil and gas resources, in 2003 and 2004.  To win the governor's job, she defeated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the GOP primary and former two-term Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles in the 2006 general election.