Sarah Palin: McCain’s hot shot Veep

If John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin make it all the way, at least the next Vice President is guaranteed to be a better shot than the man whose office she'll be taking over, Dick Cheney. Cheney needs little reminding of the accident that occurred on February 11, 2006, when he shot Harry Whittington, a Texan lawyer, while the two men were taking part in a quail hunt. Whittington was shot in the face, neck and upper torso with birdshot from the Veep's 28-gauge shotgun.

Palin, a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, grew up shooting moose with her father in the mornings before school, and still hunts and shoots today with her husband, Todd Palin. Together they're quite the sporty couple. Sarah's exploits with her high school basketball team won her the nickname of 'Sarah Barracuda' in Wasilla, the small town outside Anchorage where she went on to become mayor for two consecutive terms before running for state governor in 2006. Todd, a native Eskimo and long-time oil worker, is a four-time winner of the 'Iron Dog', which at 2,000 miles is the world's longest snowmobile race.

The couple were childhood sweethearts who eloped together shortly after she had finished her journalism degree at the University of Idaho. The story goes that they had to raid a retirement home for two elderly witnesses at their hastily organised civil ceremony.