FORA.tv Speaker - Sarah Louise Heath Palin

Sarah Louise Heath Palin is the current governor of Alaska, and is the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election. Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996, then won two terms as mayor of Wasilla 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 while also serving as Ethics Supervisor of the commission. On December 2006, Palin was sworn in as the governor of Alaska, becoming the first woman and youngest person to hold the office. She defeated incumbent Republican governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election. On August 29, 2008, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain announced that he had chosen Palin as his running mate. The decision generated much publicity for the Republican campaign as pundits from both major parties publicly discussed their views on the choice. She is expected to be formally nominated at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Palin would be the second woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket and the first Republican woman to do so.