Bob Poe

When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin steps down this weekend, she’ll leave the national Republican establishment with a trail of questions about her political future.

But, in Alaska, her departure will be followed by a crop of candidates vying to replace her — including one with local ties.

Meet Bob Poe, a Webster Groves native who is running for governor of Alaska.

The Democrat, who has served several positions in state government since moving to the Land of the Midnight Sun, was the first to file for Palin’s seat on Wednesday.

Poe graduated from DeSmet High and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

According to the Webster-Kirkwood Times, Poe grew up Webster’s Sherwood Forest neighborhood. He was sent to Alaska while working as a business consultant, according to the Times, and never looked back.

Still, Poe told the Times, he has fond memories of Webster. He got his first sniff of the frontier life shopping at a store in downtown Webster, Moore’s Alpine Shop.

“I loved the trains, the Christmas tree lots in Old Orchard and Little Webster, and going to Velvet Freeze and Smith Sporting Goods,” Poe said of his hometown.

Poe, 54, also had a brief stint as a mountain guide in Alaska. Though he’s never run for political office before, he already has a folksy slogan: “I know Bob Poe.”

If successful, Poe would add to Missouri’s already impressive roster of sitting governor’s born in the state. In addition to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, the governors of Hawaii (Linda Lingle), Oregon (Ted Kulongoski) and Virginia (Tim Kaine) are all natives of the Show-Me State.

Lingle is from University City, while Kulongoski’s biography says he grew up in a Catholic boy’s home in St. Louis.