In this photo from the NRA's blog, Sarah Palin addresses the crowd at the 2014 National Rifle Association's annual meeting on Saturday, April 26. She shocked both liberal and conservative commentators when she said, "Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists." 
In the middle of the Republican presidential primaries in February 2012, Palin told the Conservative Political Action Conference that the party needs a candidate who "can instinctively turn right," a dig at eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney. 
Palin stands in the rain in Anchorage in August 2006 as she campaigns for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Palin defeated incumbent Frank Murkowski and former state legislator John Binkley win the race. 
Gubernatorial candidate Sarah Palin stands beside then-Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Sean Parnell as they talk about their plan for a natural gas pipeline during a news conference in Anchorage. Parnell became governor when Palin stepped down in July 2009. 
Sarah Palin holds her daughter Piper as she watches results on election night in November 2006. The former mayor of Wasilla became Alaska's first female governor. 
Sarah Palin signs her oath of office document as Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, left, and Superior Court Judge Niesje Steinkruger look on after her swearing-in ceremony in Fairbanks in December 2006. 
Republican presidential candidate John McCain stands with newly announced running mate Sarah Palin in August 2008 in Dayton, Ohio. McCain made the Palin announcement the day after Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination. 
Sarah Palin's family, from left to right, son Track; daughter Bristol; Bristol's then-fiancee Levi Johnston; daughter Willow; daughter Piper; husband Todd and infant Trig, on stage after her speech to the Republican National Convention in September 2008. 
Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, leave City Hall after she voted in her hometown of Wasilla on Election Day in November 2008. The Palins then flew to Arizona to join presidential candidate John McCain. 
Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, join Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and his wife Cindy as McCain concedes the presidential race to Democrat Barack Obama in November 2008. 
The title of Palin's bestseller "Going Rogue" is a play off a remark a John McCain campaign staffer made to CNN about her straying from the McCain playbook. 
Sarah Palin signs copies of her second book "American by Heart" at Dillon's Marketplace in Andover, Kansas, in November 2010. 
Sarah Palin and Donald Trump walk toward a limo after leaving Trump Tower for a dinner meeting in the city in May 2011 during the Palin bus tour that fueled speculation she would run for president the next year. She didn't. 
Sarah Palin was mobbed at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines in August 2011, a familiar campaign stop for presidential hopefuls, during her "One Nation" bus tour. 
Sarah Palin speaks during the Tea Party of America's "Restoring America" event in September 2011 in Iowa. Supporters had hoped that she would use the event to announce that she was running for president. 
Sarah Palin drinks a "Big Gulp" soda during the Conservative Political Action Conference in March 2013 to mock New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push against large, sugary drinks. 
Wearing a shirt that reads "Women hunt," Sarah Palin blasts President Barack Obama and gun control advocates for "exploiting" recent mass shootings as she speaks to the National Rifle Association Convention in Houston in May 2013. 
Sarah Palin fires up a rally of veterans, their families and supporters at the World War II Memorial in Washington during the partial government shutdown in October 2013. 
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- Byron Mallott is a Democrat running for lieutenant governor in Alaska.
- Mallott is the running mate to indepedent governor hopeful Brian Walker.
- Pallin has long had a dispute with Alaska's current governor, Republican Sean Parnell.
- Palin's approval numbers in her home state are low.
(CNN) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin snubbed home state Republicans this year, instead endorsing an independent candidate for governor and his Democratic running mate for lieutenant governor.
Republican-turned independent candidate Bill Walker posted a photo on Facebook on Thursday of himself, Sarah Palin and his Democratic running-mate Byron Mallott, all of whom are sporting Walker-Mallott pins. "People and progress over politics," the caption reads.
Palin hosted an event for Walker and Mallott -- billing themselves as the "Unity Ticket" -- in her Wasilla home.
Sarah Palin launches online news channel 
Cheney: Impeaching Obama is a distraction 
Palin: Clinton will rethink abortion 
Palin mocks Obama's coffee cup salute Her across-the-aisle endorsement is a jab at incumbent Republican Gov. Sean Parnell, who served as Palin's lieutenant governor when she was the head of the Alaskan state government from 2006 to 2009.
Though they worked together for some time, Palin and Parnell have been rivals ever since a policy dispute erupted shortly after Palin resigned from office and Parnell took her place.
During her tenure as governor, Palin increased oil taxes in the state, a revenue generator for Alaska heralded by the 2008 vice presidential candidate as one of her biggest achievements. But Parnell dismantled the tax, causing a divide between the former coworkers.
Voters took up the oil tax issue in a state-wide ballot initiative which ended up failing, leaving Parnell's repeal in place. Parnell and Palin, both Republicans, campaigned aggressively during the voter referendum -- on opposing sides.
The Alaska governor race is considered a toss-up, with some polls giving Walker a small advantage. And it's unclear whether Palin's endorsement will help Walker: 54 percent of likely voters have an unfavorable view of the former governor, according to a survey from Public Policy Polling last month, a number which has steadily increased ever since she abruptly stepped down five years ago. The same poll shows her favorable rating at a mere 32 percent.
