Mark Knopfler

In many ways the early years of Sarah Palin’s career mirrored the later ones quite closely. Then, as now, Sarah Palin is not a woman to back down; she is determined, dogged, and has an indefatigable desire to get her own way. Whether or not you agree with her policies (and many don’t), it is difficult not to admire this enigmatic hockey mom to five children. Surely a heroine for working mothers everywhere.

Sarah Palin’s first ‘real’ job as a politician was the office of town mayor of her home town Wasilla. A turbulent first year was accompanied by a hell of a lot of turning the town’s organization, tax structure and infrastructure on its head, starting by asking the Police Chief to get another job. Woe betide any man who gets in the way of Mrs Sarah Palin!

A second term was easily won as Sarah Palin won the re-election, getting 74% of the overall vote. The second term was markedly quieter than the first as Palin continued the good work she had started in the first.

Term limits prevented Palin from entering for a third term – a third term that you can’t help feeling she would have won, and the residents of Wasilla would have welcomed.