U.S. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on Friday.
If McCain wins the November general election, Palin could make history by becoming the first woman to be U.S. vice president.
Palin, 44, who is in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state's top political job, according to the CNN website.
She was mayor and a council member of the small town of Wasilla and was chairman of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska's oil and gas resources, in 2003 and 2004.
The conservative Palin defeated two so-called political insiders to win the governor's job -- incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the GOP primary and former two-term Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles in the 2006 general election.
Palin was born in 1964 in Idaho, and her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.
In 1984, she won second place in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, winning a scholarship to help pay her way through college.
Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho, where she minored in politics.
Her husband Todd Palin is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo and they have five children.
Palin worked briefly as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband.
She is considered to be a right-wing Republican and social conservative, and she is also very popular among young people within her state, CNN said
McCain's pick of Palin is intended to shorten the age gap with his 47-year-old Democratic opponent Barack Obama, but also hopes to attract woman voters disappointed by the defeat of former first lady Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential nomination race, political analysts said.
Source: Xinhua
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