Sarah Palin Exploded onto the Political Scene. However, Some Voters Still See a Question Mark.

Unlike Geraldine Ferraro, a Democrat selected to run for vice president back in 1984, Palin has a strong conservative record.

John McCain Republican presidential candidate described Palin as “someone with strong principles, a fighting spirit and deep compassion.” But who is she really?

There is an uncertainty about Palin’s qualifications to be president. According to an opinion poll taken by USA TODAY right after she was nominated, 39% say she is ready to serve as president if needed; 57% said Joe Biden was qualified. Also, 33% say she isn’t ready for the presidency, and 29% have no opinion.

There are so many shifting images, sometimes when you look at Palin on the television it isn’t her at all.

It might be Tina Fey during one of the recent Saturday Night Live spoofs portraying Palin. So following her campaign to be vice president can get confusing; focus can be lost.

According to Palin’s biography on biography.com, she was born Sarah Louise Heath on February 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Palin was raised in the small town of Wasilla, and she attended Wasilla High School. Because of her intense playing style when she was on the girls’ champion basketball team, Palin picked up the nickname “Sarah Barracuda”.

After graduating from high school in 1982, she was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987.

Palin then married her high school sweetheart; and they now have five children. Palin entered politics in 1992 after the Wasilla City Council noticed Palin because of her opposition to tax hikes.

She has been the governor of Alaska for two years and was mayor of Wasilla Alaska for a total of ten years.

She has served as the President of Alaska Conference of Mayors and was also a City Council member from 1992 to 1996.

As mayor, Palin cut property taxes and successfully used congressional earmarks, funds that are approved to be spent on specific projects. She collected $26.9 million in funding.

As governor she supported the “bridge to nowhere,” a bridge to a very remote community in Alaska. Palin supported it at first saying it was essential for local prosperity, but when she was criticized for it later she changed her mind claiming it was too expensive.

She passed a major tax increase on the production of state oil, and she made a promise to give some of the money back to the Alaskan people by giving them a $1,200 check.

Since Sarah Palin was picked as John McCain’s running mate, her debut was rocky. News about her 17-year-old daughter, both pregnant and unmarried was the first thing shown on the news after the word of her being selected to run came out.

Then the media revealed that an attorney was hired to represent Palin in an investigation over a supposed abuse of power, and according to an article on CNN.com, Sarah Palin told Alaska reporters that she had been “cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of unethical activity” in the investigation of her actions dismissing a state official who would not fire her ex-brother-in-law from his position in the state police.

A copy of the investigative report can be downloaded here

While Palin can be seen as a puzzle under all the shifting images the media has portrayed, she describes herself as “just an average hockey mom in Alaska.”