• Sarah Palin, the Alaskan 'Barracuda' and former Governor
of Alaska, does not speak any foreign language, did not own a
passport until 2006 and has never lived abroad.

• In 2006, she had obtained a passport to visit members of
the Alaska National Guard who were stationed for fifteen months
in Northern Kuwait, and that was the first time Palin ever got to
travel outside North America.

• Her folksy Alaskan tone in speech has invited several
comments on its unusualness and out-of-the-ordinary accent heard
among natives of Wisconsin, Idaho and Canada.

• Palin actually has an Alaskan accent that is attributed
to the Matnuska and Susitna region, which is exactly where young
Palin was brought up in her hometown of Wasilla.

• The dialect spoke by the people of Alaska is quite
unusual thanks to the diversity of inhabitants who came and
settled in this land from far off places.

• In many ways, Alaskan English has a tiny amount of
"Canadian raising" in it. Many residents of Alaska originally
came from the Pacific Northwest or Western Canada and features of
the dialects of these regions are most prominent in Alaskan
English. Immigrants to Alaska from the Midwest have also
contributed unique elements to the Alaskan speech.

• Although Sarah Palin has limited linguistic skills, "She
clearly has a very canny ability to connect with people. What she
says. How she says it. And her body language," said former Alaska
Governor Tony Knowles, a Democrat whom Palin defeated in 2006.
		

• Mike Huckabee speaks no language other than English but
this former Arkansas Governor and Southern Baptist preacher hopes
to speak the language of the voters. His electrifying oratory
elevated him as the only Republican governor of Arkansas to be
elected to two four-year terms.

• He learned to read koine Greek (the dialect in which the
New Testament is written) while studying to be a Baptist pastor
but cannot speak the Greek language.

• Huckabee's early adult life wallowed in the
communications business. At the young age of 21, he became
director of a Christian advertising agency in Texas and by 25, he
made his living by ghostwriting books, designing church
publications and writing ads. "He had a great sense of humor that
came out on the radio, in his sermons, and in the dorm room with
the guys," Huckabee's college roommate Rick Caldwell commented.