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Sarah Palin's life has the contours of a made-for- TV movie. She has already been the subject of a fawning biography, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down (Epicenter Press, 2008), written in fanzine prose by Kaylene Johnson. ("Sarah said that she appreciates the many outdoor adventures she had as a child....") The official Palin narrative promoted by the Republican Party portrays her as a quintessential maverick, a plucky young woman who came out of nowhere to clean up Alaska's male-dominated political scene, quash pork barrel projects, and stand up to Big Oil. But the facts suggest something darker, quirkier, and more complex.

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The facts emerging about the vice-presidential candidate are studded with seeming contradictions. "A pot-smoking creationist?" exclaimed Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project, soon after the Fox Network broke the news of McCain's choice of running-mate -- and some of her foibles. Palin, 44, admits to having once smoked marijuana, a substance with some limited legal status in Alaska, but now, reverting to Pentecostal propriety, she advocates tough penalties for dealers and users of all illegal drugs.

Born in Idaho in 1964, Sarah Heath Palin was transplanted to Alaska by her father, a high-school science teacher. Initially baptized Catholic, she has belonged since childhood to the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination whose members speak in tongues and hurl themselves to the church floor, "slain in the spirit." In high school, where her ruthlessness at basketball earned her the nickname "Sarah Barracuda," Palin headed a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She now worships at the Juneau Christian Center, a haven for proponents of dominion theology, a belief system advocating Christian theocracy. In keeping with the tenets of her faith, she is anti-choice, hostile toward gay sex and extramarital straight sex, convinced of the literal truth of the King James Bible, and willing to believe that the world was created in six days less than 10,000 years ago.

She and her husband Todd Palin were married in 1988. At the time, both were members of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party. They became Republicans during the 1996 presidential campaign.

The Palins' children include a son, Track, a 19- year-old National Guardsman bound for Iraq, and three younger daughters. In April 2008, Palin gave birth to a second son, Trig, who has Down syndrome. Rumors persist that Palin faked the pregnancy to protect the actual birth mother, her unmarried daughter Bristol, then 16, but that would make Bristol's current, well-documented pregnancy -- five months as of September 1 -- not just a mockery of her mother's belief in abstinence-only sex education, but a sci-fi event.

When Reuters broke the pregnancy story on Labor Day, many thought the news would tarnish Palin's family-values image. Instead, it attracted support. Palin readily acknowledged her unborn grandchild, stressing that Bristol and the baby's 18-year-old father, Levi Johnston, planned to marry. (This may have been news to Johnston, whose MySpace page - - since expurgated -- expressed, amid such statements as "I'm a fuckin' redneck," his interest in dating other women, and his wish not to have children.) Conservatives praised Palin for her candor, congratulating Bristol for not choosing abortion. Focus on the Family's James Dobson commended the Palins for "living out pro-life values."

Palin's involvement in Feminists for Life (FFL) is an allegiance that signifies far more than anti- abortion sentiments. FFL members regard abortion as "violence against women," and oppose ending pregnancy even in cases of rape or incest. Many of the organization's members also oppose all forms of contraception.

Alaska's born-again governor has longtime ties to Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), now under indictment on seven counts of violating the Ethics in Government Act. From 2003 to 2005, she was a director of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc., an organization designed to groom Republican women for political careers. Before he faced criminal charges, Stevens gave Palin a ringing endorsement during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

Portrayed as a foe of earmarks -- funding provisions for constituents' special interests, inserted into unrelated legislation -- Governor Palin has sought to benefit from them throughout her career, securing $27 million worth of perks for her tiny hometown.

Palin herself is now under investigation for having fired Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner, allegedly in retaliation for his refusal to fire her ex-brother- in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, then engaged in a child-custody battle with her sister. During her mayoral career in Wasilla, she could be counted upon to fire any town official who disagreed with her policies.

As governor, her policies favor making massive use of the Alaskan wilderness. She says she does not believe human activity affects global warming; her much-touted energy expertise is actually a commitment to widespread development. She favors off-shore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has gone to bat for victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but on the whole she confronts Big Oil to ask for speedier exploitation of Alaskan lands.

If John McCain, 72, is elected, Vice President Sarah Palin will be poised to succeed the oldest man ever elected to the presidency, a man with a history of malignant melanoma.

Also this issue:
Biden' time in the Palinolithic
Joe Biden: A gay-rights liberal