Although you might assume it was Alaska, Sarah Palin was actually born in Idaho on February 11, 1964. To be fair, the future governor did move to The Last Frontier when she was only a few months old, starting a lifelong relationship with the state and its politics that would eventually propel her to the national stage. 

After graduating from high school, Palin attended no less than five different colleges, eventually graduating with a degree in communications from the University of Idaho. During that time, she participated in and won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant. She went on to place third in the Miss Alaska competition, winning Miss Congeniality, and soon afterward worked as a local sportscaster. 

In 1992 Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council, and then mayor, where she shook up local politics with a busy and turbulent two terms. She developed something of a reputation for being a rogue, an idea that would strongly influence her future campaigns and title her book. She formed a close relationship with incumbent Alaska governor Frank Murkowski, and leveraged this connection to eventually run for governor, defeating her mentor in 2006. Palin’s gubernatorial career, although short, was dogged with accusations of political misdeeds, including the alleged wrongful termination of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan when he declined to fire Palin’s ex-brother-in-law. 

Storied state politics aside, the world (and the 99% of America’s population that doesn’t live in Alaska) was introduced to Sarah Palin when she emerged as the front-runner for the vice-presidential office on Senator John McCain’s Republican bid for the presidency in 2008. Palin’s campaign was unique. The second woman to ever be nominated for the national ticket, she was a passionate asset to McCain’s team, chosen mainly to alleviate fears that McCain might be too old to capture the interest of younger voters. Always a hard-worker, Palin’s energy gathered a lot of media attention, although not all of it was positive. Famously, despite claiming to regularly read “all the main newspapers,” she wasn’t able to name a single paper when pressed in a televised interview with Katie Couric. She was often criticized for her outspoken, unsubstantiated claims, and near-total ignorance of foreign affairs or international policy. Supporters, on the other hand, admired her strong opinions and willingness to speak them. Members of McCain’s team called these outbursts “going rogue” – a name Palin would apply to her first memoir. 

Some time after McCain’s defeat, Palin stepped up as a major leader of the burgeoning Tea Party, a new ultra-conservative movement well in line with Palin’s strong right-wing beliefs. She served as the first guest commentator on Glen Beck’s television program and founded Sarah PAC, a successful Political Action Committee supporting conservative candidates across the nation. 

Immediately after loosing the 2008 election,  Sarah became Alaska's unofficial moose meat maven. It seemed that the majority of the initial news stories discussed her constant raving about moose chili, moose burgers, moose hot dogs, and moose stew. When Fox's Greta Van Sustern spent an hour interviewing Sarah in her kitchen, there was moose chili in the crock pot and moose and cheese hot dogs on the table. Sarah even served Greta the chili for dinner and she seemed to enjoy it.However, even a few of the loyal Fox viewers questioned the appearance of so much moose meat all over the kitchen.

Although we are featuring moose chili as an appropriate dish to celebrate Sarah's birthday because of her constant hawking of moose meat virtues, it should be noted that is illegal to sell moose meat in the United States. However, it can be be harvested for personal consumption. So although the Palins may be avid hunters and may have a freezer full of moose and other Alaskan critters,  this recipe is only for a select few unless you substitute elk. There are commercial elk farms and the elk is a cousin of  the moose and can serve as "the other white meat" in this recipe. Many stores that specialize in exotic game carry elk meat. One source is Chicago's Game & Gourmet (312)-455-1800.

So let's celebrate Sarah's birthday with a streaming bowl of moose  (or elk) chili and enjoy HBO's Game Change (2012)  about which Sarah told Fox News I'm not going to go see the movie, neither is the good Sen. John McCain We've discussed this and realized that Hollywood lies are Hollywood lies. They're going to do what they can to drum up their money and their machine, and their machine happens to be a very pro-leftist, pro-Barack Obama machine there at HBO that created this movie. And those campaign staffers who essentially threw John McCain under the bus, I think that they should feel some shame, and they should feel some embarrassment, because the movie is based on a false narrative, as you can see in the trailer."