Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Palin: From Beauty Pageant to Popular Governor

Palin: From Beauty Pageant to Popular Governor

Susan Davis and June Kronholz report on the presidential race.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin rocketed on to the national political stage today after John McCain tapped her to run as his running mate against Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Palin is a relative unknown, a former Wasilla, Alaska, mayor who has served only two years as governor. She will spend the upcoming days and weeks introducing herself to voters. Here’s something they’ll learn: she is a former Miss Alaska contestant, the Miss America Organization touted today.

In 1984, Palin was chosen Miss Wasilla and went on to become the first runner-up in the Miss Alaska Pageant, but she won Miss Congeniality that year. Her family still holds ties to the pageant—her husband, Todd, was a judge in 2008’s Miss Alaska pageant.

The governor also received praise today from a home state Republican she implicitly criticized in her debut appearance with McCain in Dayton, Ohio. Palin noted that she played a role in killing the “Bridge to Nowhere” a multi-million dollar boondoggle supported by Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young that become a national symbol of out-of-control federal spending.

Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Palin: From Beauty Pageant to Popular Governor

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