Alaska swears in first female governor

Source: International Herald Tribune

FAIRBANKS, Alaska:  Alaska’s first female governor was sworn into office Monday, completing an unlikely journey for a relatively political unknown just months ago.

Sarah Palin took the oath shortly before noon with her husband, Todd, at her side.

The crowd began chanting “Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!” before Alaska musher and mistress of ceremonies Libby Riddles joked the governor asked them to “cease and desist.”

Palin, a Republican, is the state’s first female governor and at age 42, also is the youngest person to hold the office.

Palin rose from relative obscurity to win the state’s highest office.

She trounced incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary, and then handily defeated former two-term Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in the general election.

Palin has spent the last few years irritating state Republican leaders by blowing the whistle on the party chairman’s violations of state ethics laws, then filing an ethics complaint together with a Democratic legislator against former Attorney General Gregg Renkes, a longtime Murkowski aide.

Palin also appealed to Alaskans because of her status as a political outsider. She described her profession the past few years as “hockey mom” and occasional commercial fisherman. That stood out against her opponents, both political insiders.