VEEPSTAKES: Will Alaska Governor Sarah Palin bring in Conservative Votes for McCain?

With Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty apparently out of the running for McCain's VP pick, speculation this morning turns to Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska.  Scratch that . . . News Just In – Sarah Palin IS McCain's running mate.

Richard Land was interviewed by CBS News and the following exchange took place:

CBSNews.com: Who's on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community?

Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there's a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. 

She's strongly pro-life. She's a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she's a woman. She's a reform Governor. I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that would probably ring the most bells, along with Mike Huckabee, of course, who's a Southern Baptist, along with Mike Huckabee, of course, who's a Southern Baptist.

From: http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/2008/08/leading-evangelical-says-palin-rings.html

As she is relatively new to the political world, only recently elected Governor of Alaska, there is not a lot of information about her policies aside from her own personal beliefs.  Here is what Wikipedia users say about her background.

Family and personal background

Palin was born as Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Charles and Sally (Sheeran) Heath.^[3] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.^[4] Charles Heath was a popular science teacher and coached track.^[4] 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 would regularly run 5k and 10k races.^[4]

Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.^[4] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.^[4] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.^[4]

In 1984, Palin was 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.^[4][5] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.

Details of Palin's personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose burgers, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.^[6][7] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.^[8]

Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics. She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.^[4] One summer when she was working on Todd's fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.^[4] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope^[9] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile "Iron Dog" race four times.^[4] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.^[4] Todd is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo.^[4] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.^[10]

On September 11, 2007, the Palins' son Track joined the Army. Eighteen years old at the time, he is the eldest of Palin's five children.^[10] Track now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.^[11] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.^[12] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.^[13] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"^[13]

High approval ratings

In July 2007, Palin had an approval rating often in the 90s.^[6] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin's approval rating at 80%. ^[54]