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Palin's swift rise is the talk of her Alaskan town

Until a week ago, only a relatively few outside Alaska knew of that state's governor, Sarah Palin. All that is different now. To many in Palin's hometown, the GOP vice presidential candidate's near-iconic status is well-deserved. After all, the high school basketball star and former beauty queen rose from Wasilla City Council member to Alaska's first female governor in less than 14 years. <p><a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/cnn_topstories?a=0kF8xr"><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~a/rss/cnn_topstories?i=0kF8xr" border="0"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=5yUTL"><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=5yUTL" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=bcDkL"><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=bcDkL" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=PuHBl"><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=PuHBl" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=fKfwL"><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=fKfwL" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?a=SBMpl"><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~f/rss/cnn_topstories?i=SBMpl" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~4/384437581" height="1" width="1"/>