Former Governor Sarah Palin left Alaska with the highest state debt burden in the United States

Former less than one-term Governor Sarah Palin has long sold herself as a fiscal conservative, arguing against the Democrats' health overhaul on the grounds that the nation simply can't afford it.

But when the former losing vice presidential candidate resigned as governor of Alaska in the summer of 2009, she left the state with a 70 percent debt-to-GDP ratio, the highest state debt burden in the United States.

By comparison, crisis-stricken California has a debt ratio of less than 40 percent. All the more confounding about Alaska's debt is the fact that it is an oil-producing region with a small population to share in that wealth. 

Palin did face similar debt problems while mayor of Wasilla, and those appear to be of her own making. Wasilla's municipal debt went from around $1 million when she came in to office, to around $22 million when she left.