• When Sarah Palin was just two months old, her family
moved to the 'Last Frontier' state of Alaska where she was
raised. 

• Alaska is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted
and Palin's school days often began with a moose hunt in the
Alaskan wilds. On most of the cold winter days, she used to go
ice-fishing and hiking with her father and siblings. Summers were
spent going on early morning runs and marathons with the whole
family.

• The family lived frugally with Palin's father working
over-time as a hunting and fishing guide as well as a bartender
to help make ends meet.

• Palin attended Wasilla High School where she was the
leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

• She was the captain and point guard of the school's
girls' basketball team. When the school won the Alaska state
championship in 1982, Palin was nick-named 'Barracuda' for her
competitive streak.

• Her father Chuck remembers, "Sarah got a lot of stern
discipline from me and a lot of love, devotion and faith from her
mom. I'd push her a lot in sport and outdoor activities. I taught
her to believe she could do anything in the world she wanted to
do, if she put her mind to it."

• While her classmates graduated to take up teaching,
accountancy and police work, Palin had set her sights on public
recognition. She had strong ambitions to become a sport
commentator and television presenter.

• Palin had been an avid reader of loved books such as
'Old Yeller' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.
		

• Mike Huckabee grew up in a rented house in the tiny
little town of Hope, Arkansas, where people always asked, "do you
really think that some obscure, unknown governor born in Hope has
any chance to be president of the United States" until Bill
Clinton put their question to rest.

• He spent his entire childhood in Hope and his formative
years were influenced by his father, mother, sister and the
community in Hope where "people kind of looked after each other".


• Though there was little money and influence found in
Hope, the young Huckabee never had a defeatist attitude.

• He had a modest childhood and still recalls the old days
when his family used scratchy lava soap, humorously adding, "It
wasn't until I got to college that I realized showers were not
supposed to hurt."

• An eight-year old Huckabee, along with his father, went
to see Governor Orville Faubus, "deliver a speech and dedicate a
lake". This is perhaps one of the chapters in his life that
heralded the illustrious political future that awaited little
Huckabee.

• From a very young age Huckabee had been a smooth talker
with the dynamism of a natural leader and a heightened political
sensibility. He once said, "I was a true-blue, conservative,
family-oriented young Republican."  

• He preached his first sermon at the age of fifteen and
wanted to grow up to be a rock star. Even today, he never misses
a chance to pick up his guitar and strum to the beats of his
music band 'Capitol Offense'.