Sarah Palin quits
 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010.

As the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin had been considered one of the front-runners for the GOP nomination in 2012.

"People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska," Palin said at an announcement from her home in Wasilla. "Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine."

Palin was elected governor in 2006. She was tapped as Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate last year.

Palin said she was transferring authority to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in at the Governor's Picnic on July 26. Watch Palin's announcement »

Palin added in a statement that she was "determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path. ... Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional lame duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose."

A Republican source close to her political team told CNN's John King that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on." The governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes she is "mapping out a path to 2012."

Another source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Palin "thinks she has accomplished goals she has set forward. ... She sees what a positive influence she has had on people's lives from traveling the country in the last year."

"Either Sarah Palin is leaving the people of Alaska high and dry to pursue her long shot national political ambitions or she simply can't handle the job now that her popularity has dimmed and oil revenues are down," DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said.

"Either way, her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today."

Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ed Rollins said, to a certain extent, Palin's announcement makes her look "terribly inept."

"I think everyone is shocked by this, and I think to a certain extent everyone is going to assume there's another story. You don't just quit with a year and a half to go. You certainly don't do this as a stepping stone to run for president. You finish the job that you're in, and obviously she's not doing that," he said.

"I think people are going to be very suspicious because of the timing. You don't quit on the Friday of a three-day holiday. If you are going to do this, you think it through, you give a good speech," Rollins said.

However, CNN Republican Strategist Mary Matalin said she thought the move was "really brilliant" on Palin's part, though she admitted she was surprised when she first heard the news.

"Her delivery was incredible, if you're a less charismatic person, you probably couldn't pull it off," Matalin said. "[Now] she will be freed up and liberated the way Mitt Romney is to raise money and get political chips by spending it and getting political capital. And she is still raising the kinds of crowds and money she always did."

Now, Matalin says, Palin must focus on "putting up with the conventional wisdom" that this was a bad move and travel the country to drum up support for a presidential run.

"She takes that target off her back with a good record to launch from," Matalin said.

When asked about whether it's possible Palin stepped down because of something negative we hadn't heard yet, Matalin referenced Palin's own words that investigators have dug through research in the ethics investigation.

"We presume if there was anything else we would know it by now," Matalin said.

In an interview last month with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Palin said she was unsure about her re-election bid because she needed to focus on her state and her family.

"So, no decision yet on either 2010 or let alone 2012?" Blitzer asked.

"No decision that I'd want to announce today," Palin responded.

Palin catapulted on the national stage last August when McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, chose her as his running mate. E-mail to a friend

Why do I have a feeling she might run for president? I am surprise she just resign from being a governor. I wonder what made her quit.:confused:

she's fine.i have a feeling that we've not heard the last from her.

She says that lame duck governors just cash their paychecks and don't do anything for the state, and she doesn't want to do that, but she has 18 months to go in her office, and she is only lame duck by personal choice. Instead of quitting she could actually serve the state the full 4 years. Very strange decision.

I actually live IN Alaska, so this pertains to me especially.


THE REAL REASON SHE RESIGNED:

She spent a lot of time claiming she was a "maverick" -- she openly takes glory for putting an end to "corrupt politicians".

Turns out that the "corrupt politicians" were wrongly accused, and the Palin administration was illegally holding evidence that would otherwise prove them to be innocent.


Now the prosecutors of the original scandal are being charged with criminal "Withholding of Evidence" - the tables have turned and Palin is escaping the heat!

This is not going over well up here in AK -- and if she thinks she has a chance of running for President, she needs to be committed. :rolleyes:

You can't just quit. :eek:

Fascinating! So this is the "millions of dollars" she will save the state by quitting?

I work in Media, and we've worked closely with Vic Kohring-- one of the accused:


Kohring, Kott freed from prison, return to Alaska

The U.S. Department of Justice last week said prosecutors had failed to turn over favorable evidence before the former legistors' 2007 trials on bribery, extortion and conspiracy.

On Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered both men released from prison, leaving the trial judge, U.S. District Judge John Sedwick in Anchorage, to set conditions.

He has not set a time to hear the substantive case involving the withheld evidence. The 9th Circuit directed Sedwick to determine whether the material was serious enough to prejudice their trials. If so, he could order new trials or dismiss charges.


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Palin messed up BIG TIME! The three people she put away were released because of legitimate mis-trial.

This was her claim to fame, now it's turning out to be an even bigger scandal then it began as.

No kidding! Wow...no wonder she picked the Friday before the 4th to try and sneak away.

She's a snake like the rest of em'


I went to High School with her daughter, and her daughters baby-daddy.

I just saw Sarah and her Husband driving around Wasilla the other week... They're nothing special, and surely not worthy of frontpage news.

Though somehow they keep finding themselves on the front page.