In announcing her resignation as Alaska governor, Sarah Palin ensured she will likely remain at the forefront of American politics for some time to come.
The surprise move by Ms Palin, who ascended to international fame overnight when she became Republican John McCain's running mate in his failed 2008 Presidential campaign and her party's popular but polarising new cheerleader, immediately fuelled speculation of a possible 2012 White House bid of her own. A June 2 CNN poll had Ms Palin, 45, running neck-and-neck with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and ex-Arkansas governor Mick Huckabee in the top three favourites to head up the Republican ticket for the next presidential elections.
The ex-beauty queen, moose hunter and mother of five wooed conservative Americans on the campaign trail by weaving together traditional values and dazzling telegenics, energising the Republican Party's base.
But the new Republican cheerleader was also a polarising one, fuelling a backlash from Independents and Democrats against Mr McCain, a self-styled "maverick" who has sometimes been at odds with staunch conservatives in his party on issues like illegal immigration and global warming.
She was the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket and only the second woman ever to serve as running mate for a major-party White House bid, after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, who ran as VP in 1984.
As governor, Ms Palin has earned approval ratings as high as 80 per cent, but she has only led the vast, oil-producing northwestern state since December 2006, when she became the youngest person ever to hold Alaska's governorship.
A series of ethics complaints and her failed run with Mr McCain also saw popularity dip for Ms Palin, who has cast herself as an anti-corruption star. A state troopers union brought an ethics complaint against Ms Palin, alleging she and other officials had disclosed confidential information on her former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, and systematically sought to fire him.
Ethics complaint against the governor and other senior officials from her administration have reportedly cost the state personnel board nearly $300,000, the bulk of it from the "Troopergate" investigation.
Ms Palin has also reportedly spent over $600,000 in personal legal bills to fight the accusations.
The carefully coiffed conservative Christian, once dubbed "America's Hottest Governor", made a series of blunders in high-profile interviews during the presidential campaign that fuelled fears she was too inexperienced to be the nation's second in command.
Many observers said the photogenic governor's faux pas and perceived lack of experience in national politics contributed to Ms McCain's loss. Alarms went off after she gave interviews in which she cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as evidence of her foreign policy experience, and suggested, wrongly, that the Vice President was in charge of the US Senate.
But the governor retains star power in the battered Republican Party, still reeling from its heavy defeat by Democratic President Barack Obama in the November presidential elections.
She has already inked a lucrative book-writing deal with publisher HarperCollins believed to be worth up to $11 million, although the amount has not been disclosed, for a memoir to be published in early next year.
Born on February 11, 1964 in Idaho, Ms Palin grew up in the town of Wasilla, Alaska with a population of 8,500, when her family moved there. She led the high school basketball team, where she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" for her aggressive, determined style.