WISCONSINREPORT.COM (08/29/08) - U.S. Senator John McCain today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as his vice president. The McCain campaign says Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in short time in office that she is ready to be president. In addition to naming 44 year old Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate against the Obama - Biden ticket, the McCain campaign has released a statement from McCain that calls Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech last night, misleading.

"Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama," McCain stated last night.

"When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm's way," McCain said.

"Barack Obama is still not ready to be President," Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain said in the night of Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

Today (Friday, August 28, 2008) John McCain has named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in his bid to keep the White House occupation on the side of the Republican Party.

Palin was elected governor in 2006 after defeating incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election. She gained attention for publicizing ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders.

Before becoming governor, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996, was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996, and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2002.

Sarah Palin will be the first female vice presidential candidate representing the Republican Party and the second female vice presidential candidate representing a major political party. She will also be the first politician from Alaska to run on a national ticket in a campaign for president or vice president. Palin was the youngest person, and the first woman, to be elected governor of Alaska.

The McCain people say that Sarah Palin has cut spending in Alaska with her veto ability. Palin also is credited with putting a stop to the construction of the infamous "Bridge To Nowhere" that would have cost taxpayers 400 Million Dollars.

Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of a school secretary, and a science teacher and track coach. She has English, Irish, and German ancestry. Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family regularly ran 5 km and 10 km races.

At Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, Palin was the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was the point guard and captain for the basketball team. She helped the team win the Alaska small-school championship in 1982, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds, despite a stress fracture in her ankle. She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play, and was the leader of team prayer before games.

In 1984, after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, Palin finished second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant which won her a scholarship to help pay her way through college. In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.

Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics. She married her high school sweetheart, Todd Palin, on August 29, 1988, and briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband.

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged and defeated the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes. The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed. Palin kept her campaign promises by reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes by 60 percent. She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin. Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.

In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a four-way race. After Frank Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in mid-term to become governor, Palin interviewed to be his possible successor. Instead, Murkowski appointed his daughter, then-Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski.

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she served from 2003 to 2004 until resigning in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest.

After she resigned, she exposed the state Republican Party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time, and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.

In 2006, Palin, running on a clean-government campaign, executed an upset victory over then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Despite the lack of support from party leaders and being outspent by her Democratic opponent, she went on to win the general election in November 2006, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles. Palin said in 2006 that education, public safety, and transportation would be three cornerstones of her administration.

The McCain campaign claims Palin has brought Republicans and Democrats together within her Administration and has a record of delivering on the change and reform that is needed in Washington.

Information from the McCain camp indicates that Governor Palin has challenged the influence of the big oil companies while fighting for the development of new energy resources. Alaska has significant energy resources and Palin is said to be a leader in the fight to make America energy independent.

As the head of Alaska's National Guard and as the mother of a soldier herself, Governor Palin understands what it takes to lead our nation and she understands the importance of supporting our troops, according to the McCain official release on the selection of Palin for vice president of the United States.

The McCain news release suggests that Governor Sarah Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. The McCain campaign is looking at Palin's experience being what will help in shaking up the status quo in Washington, D.C.