Sink's pledge: I'll bring business acumen to governor's office

When Alex Sink returned to North Carolina after a failed marriage and a three-year stint in West Africa, she threw herself into something just as foreign: the male-dominated world of banking.

Sink eventually rose from lowly branch planner to chief executive of NationsBank Florida -- now Bank of America -- becoming one of the highest female executives in her field.

``I worked harder and had to be smarter,'' Sink said of her 26 years at the bank. ``I had to be tough and not take no for an answer.''

Now Sink, 62, wants to pierce the gender barrier again. This time, to become Florida's first female governor.

``It didn't take me 24 hours to get into the race,'' Sink tells her audiences. ``I've sat back for the last four years and watched the state that I love fall into an economic abyss.''

For Sink, the quest to become Florida's first female governor seems less of a distinction than a natural progression in a life spent crossing divides.

A North Carolina farm girl who doesn't flinch at eating possum, she excelled in the buttoned-up world of the nation's largest banking chain. A Southerner with the argot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she bridged cultures to succeed in cosmopolitan New York and Miami. A lifelong Democrat, she's earned the loyalty of Republicans.

But her feats in finance have not perfected her as a politician.

`PROBLEM SOLVER'

She's an awkward orator, often stiff on the stump. A trained mathematician, she is sometimes so deliberate and methodical that she appears indecisive. Inherently cautious and risk-averse, Sink is so guarded with the media that she often comes across as evasive.

Those closest to Sink acknowledge that the public side of politics is not her strength.

``Sometimes she's criticized for not having charisma or not being a great public speaker, it's because she has to do that to get her where she needs to be,'' said Dorothy Sykes, Sink's younger sister. ``She's a problem solver. That's what she does. If there's a problem she wants to tackle, she will get out that legal pad and pencil and will start problem solving.''

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Alelaide ``Alex'' Sink and her sister Dorothy ``Dottie'' Sink are the children of Adelaide Bunker and Kester Sink. The couple married after World War II and inherited the Bunker family homestead in Mount Airy. The town was the prototype for the famous ``Andy Griffith Show.''

The Bunkers, however, are descendants of the other famous residents -- conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, born in Thailand in 1811. The twins traveled the globe as circus curiosities until settling in Mount Airy, built a tobacco farm, and famously fathered 21 children.

The novelty of her great grandfather Chang Bunker is a point of pride for Sink, who admires the perseverance and spunk of the odd Asian men who moved to ``redneck country'' and were accepted. Instilled in all their children, she said, is the notion that ``being different is OK.''

That same spirit characterized Sink's mother's very private battle with breast cancer, diagnosed when Sink entered 10th grade. A talented musician who led the junior high school choir, her mother was determined to fight her cancer -- and keep it quiet.

She was diagnosed on a Friday, had a doubled mastectomy on Tuesday and ``we kept a secret a secret,'' Sykes said. ``We were not allowed to tell anyone about it so she could lead a normal life.''

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