Palin Exposes Real Northern Exposure for Alaska

Don't believe what you see. Few Alaskans wrestle bears, travel by small plane.

ByABC News
September 2, 2008, 7:01 PM

Sept. 3, 2008— -- If Hollywood is to be believed, all that northern exposure has made the people of Alaska a little quirky. They alternately befriend and battle bears, become paranoid insomniacs during the endless days, seek solace in the wild -- and, oh, the men grow in trees.

Before Republican presidential candidate John McCain selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a lot of what people in the lower 49 states knew about Alaska came from books, movies and television shows. Palin's nomination for vice president has shined a spotlight on a place pop culture has long portrayed as strange and eccentric.

"I don't think there's any more quirkiness here than elsewhere," said Stephen Haycox, a history professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. "People are looking for an explanation for why people are living in Alaska. Why would people go live in a place with a very long winter and darkness? What would drive people to live there? They must be a little bit strange and different than the rest of us."

But actress Janine Turner, who portrayed Maggie O'Connell on the 1990s CBS series "Northern Exposure," sees a lot of similarities between her character and the Alaska governor.

"I was just thrilled by her nomination," said Turner, who is a Republican. "Because of my fondness for 'Northern Exposure,' when I heard she hunts caribou, I thought, 'Oh, wow, she's cool.' I'm more than very proud of Maggie O'Connell and very proud of our new candidate."

Turner's character was a socialite who moves to Alaska and learns to shoot her own deer and fix her own toilet. "Maggie was a go-getter, self-reliant," she said. "She made her own decisions, executed her plan. And she was a survivor and an outdoorsy girl. I think the governor appears to have all those qualities."

Turner admitted she's never been to the state but has heard stories about the state from her pilot father.

"Alaska seems like a pretty tough place to survive," she said. "So, in order to survive, she would have to be a tough cookie to begin with. She's beautiful, intelligent, with a great family. She's sort of my idol, in a way. I love the way she just sort of goes out and takes charge and makes decisions, running a town as mayor, then running the whole state as governor."