Sarah Palin’s favorite meal? "Moose stew," she said, "after a day of snowmachining."

How does she justify hunting moose for the stewpot? "It’s never bothered me," she says. "That caribou has had a good life. It’s been free out there on the tundra, not caged up on a farm with no place to move."

Bumper sticker on the back of Sarah’s parent’s truck: VEGETARIAN—OLD INDIAN WORD FOR "BAD HUNTER

How does she keep in shape: running

She was running 7 to 10 miles almost every day but switched to aerobics classes at her gym when she became pregnant. She has worked her way back up to running three miles every other day.

Palinmania is sweeping the nation and nowhere is newfound love for the Sarahcuda more evident than on YouTube, where video tributes to Sarah are going up every day. Some of my favs:

Some of you may be wondering about the picture of Palin on the cover of Vogue. Yes, she was interviewed for Vogue (Feb 2008 issue) and there were pictures, but the cover is a Photoshop fake. Nice job, though.

"I don’t want you to look mean," the editor told the governor when she arrived. "Just don’t smile."

"OK." Palin looked skeptical. "I’ll try." She folded her arms and looked straight into the lens. As the camera clicked, the corners of her mouth began to twitch.

"This is really hard for her," her spokesperson observed from the back of the room. "She is always smiling."

After a dozen or so clicks, the tension was too much. "OK," the editor relented. "Go ahead and smile."

"Thank you!" she answered, releasing the expression like a caged animal. Outside, the dying winter sun briefly lit the mountains with a rosy light and then was gone. "She really is a breath of fresh air," the editor said as the photographer packed up his equipment. "It feels like a new era in Alaska."

And how did the move from mayor to governor happen?

When term limits forced Palin out of the mayorship in 2002, she was appointed chairman of the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission by the Republican powers that be. The position seemed like a dream. With four children to raise and a husband whose blue-collar job pays an hourly wage, the six-figure salary was more than welcome, but it didn’t take her long to become disillusioned by the unethical behavior she witnessed firsthand. "What I saw was so obviously wrong. I was so disappointed and shocked," she says. "Oil and gas revenue account for more than 80 percent of the state’s budget, but Alaskans were never going to trust us if that was how we conducted business." When her complaints were ignored, Palin saw no choice but to resign in protest. The once golden girl was suddenly out of a job.

Palin spent the next year at home, focusing on her children. But if politics is a disease, she had caught it bad. When the gubernatorial election rolled around, she waited for someone within the party to run against a governor whose disapproval ratings make George W. Bush look popular. Switching to the Democratic Party was never an option for Palin, a pro-life, free-market, NRA supporter whose most fervent wish for Alaska is to open up areas of federal wilderness land for oil development. So she stepped up to the plate and ran a campaign composed mostly of friends, family, and small donations made by people who had never before contributed to a political race.

Now that’s a little inspiring, giving up a great primary income for principles.

Palin is also the object of a Newsweek article, although it is hardly complimentary (given the left wing nature of Newsweek, this comes as no surprise). Money quote:

In the battle with Obama and Joe Biden, the McCain campaign will emphasize Palin’s executive responsibilities, her judgment, her instincts, her reformist credentials and her fighting spirit. Aides might encourage her to take the lead on energy issues, emphasizing one policy area she’s very familiar with. They’ll also play up her small-town roots, trying to draw comparisons to Harry Truman. Palin herself made two references to Truman in her nomination speech. "Long ago, a young former haberdasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency," she said. Then she quoted the writer Westbrook Pegler: "We grow good people in our small towns with honesty, sincerity and dignity." The analogy is strained. Truman served for 10 years in Congress before becoming vice president. But Palin does have similar spunk, and she does come from a small town. For better or worse, she’d bring those small-town values to Washington.

And that about sums up the view from the left — she will be taking redneck, rifle shooting, moose hunting, commercial fishing, oil drilling values to Washington, because she has changed the dynamics of the race to the point where Obama will be playing catchup all the way to November.