Sarah Palin Leaves Public Office, Slams Media, Political Future Remains Unclear...Faces More Ethics Violation Probes

MSNBC, Politico----


(Sarah Palin resigns. As the former GOP vice presidential candidate begins life as a private citizen, her political future remains unsure despite a flood of donations to her political action committee. NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reports.)

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(Upon announcing her resignation then Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin encourages her constituents but slams the Media.)

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Sarah Palin stepped down Sunday as Alaska governor to write a book and build a right-of-center coalition, but she left her long-term political plans unclear and refused to address speculation she would seek a 2012 presidential bid.

Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter.

Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at a crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded "some seemingly hell bent on tearing down our nation" and warned Americans to "be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn't come free."

She also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, "has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!"

And she told television cameras: "How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin' things up?"

Claims unfair treatment by media:

She didn't elaborate, but Palin said when she announced her resignation July 3 that she was tired of the media focus on her family and felt she had been unfairly treated by reporters.

Friend and foe alike have speculated that Palin may host a radio or TV show, launch a lucrative speaking career or seek higher office in Washington.

Palin hasn't ruled out any of those options, and her political action committee, SarahPAC, has raised more than $1 million, said Meghan Stapleton, a spokeswoman for the committee and the Palin family.

Stapleton said Palin is still deciding what her future will be.

"I cannot express enough there is no plan after July 26. There is absolutely no plan," she told The Associated Press.

Palin's surprise announcement she was stepping down 17 months before the end of her first term pushed her favorability rating down to 40 percent, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll. Fifty-three percent of those polled gave her an unfavorable rating.

Last summer, almost six in 10 Americans viewed her favorably. The latest poll was taken from July 15-18.

Parnell sworn in Sunday:

Nearly 20 ethics complaints had been filed against Palin, and the outgoing governor cited the resulting investigation's financial toll — both on her and the state — for stepping down. An independent investigator looking into the complaints found evidence she may have violated ethics laws by trading on her position as she sought money for lawyer fees, according to a report obtained recently by The Associated Press.

Parnell, 46, of Anchorage, was sworn in Sunday as the state's new governor and has promised to push many of Palin's initiatives, including controversial terms to build a natural gas pipeline.

Palin received a warm welcome Sunday, both during her speech and as she served food at Pioneer Park in downtown Fairbanks, where thousands gathered on a hot day.

Among those present was Donna Michaels, 57, of Fairbanks, who wore a red T-shirt that said: "Palintologist."

The T-shirt defined a Palintologist as "someone who studies Palin and shares her conservative values, Maverick attitude and American style."

Michaels also held a poster board sign showing the front page of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner when Palin announced she would resign. Michaels altered the banner headline "Palin steps down," replacing the last word with "up."

"She's really not stepping down. She's stepping up to do something bigger and better," said Michaels, who attended the picnic with her daughter and two granddaughters, one of whom who wore Sarah Palin-style eyeglasses.

Thanks for the laughs:

Larry Landry, 51, of Fairbanks held up a red, white and blue sign that that read, "Quitting: the new American value." The other side read: "Thanks for the laughs."

Landry, a registered independent, said he respected Palin when she ran for governor in 2006, but she changed during last year's presidential campaign.

"She turned into a vicious vixen," he said. "She descended into ugly, divisive politics."

Alaska's first female governor arrived at the state Capitol in December 2006 on an ethics reform platform after defeating two former governors in the primary and general elections. Her prior political experience consisted of terms as Wasilla's mayor and councilwoman and a stint as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Unknown on the national stage until Republican John McCain tapped her as his running mate, Palin infused excitement into the Republican's presidential bid. But she also became the butt of talk-show jokes and Democratic criticism, especially after the Republican Party spent $150,000 or more on a designer wardrobe for Palin.

Former state House Speaker John Harris, a Republican with sometimes chilly relations with Palin, said he thinks Palin will run for president in 2012, although he has no inside information.

Stapleton said the answer will emerge in the coming weeks.

On Monday, "we'll sit down and say, 'OK, here are your options. How do you now want to effect that positive change for Alaska from outside the role as governor?"' Stapleton said.



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Sources: MSNBC, Politico, ABC News, Newsweek, Flickr, Google Maps

Democrats Don't Want Sarah Palin Campaigning For Them...Either

Politico----

Gov. Sarah Palin said last weekend that she’d be willing to campaign for some Democrats when she leaves office later this month.

She may not have many takers.

Interviews with a number of the most conservative Democrats in the House and Senate induced an awkward, stare-at-your-shoes unease when the prospect of appearing with Palin was posed.

Some of the members lunged for elevators, others moved to get into meetings (or at least behind closed doors), and a few just chuckled nervously and replied in a clipped fashion that reflected an immense desire to not discuss the topic at any length.

For these Democrats, many of them part of the right-leaning Blue Dog Coalition, Palin presents a quandary: She’s deeply unpopular within their own party, but in the socially conservative, often rural districts or states they represent, the plain-spoken, wader-wearing Alaska governor has a following.

So Palin’s suggestion, floated in a Washington Times interview, that she’d stump for like-minded independents or Democrats prompted many usually loquacious politicians to respond gingerly — and often with the same talking point they would use to explain why they don’t want high-profile liberals to appear in their red-leaning districts.

“I don’t think so,” said Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler, who hails from the conservative far western reaches of North Carolina.

“You know, look,” Shuler continued, clearing his throat, “there may be things we agree on, but there’s a lot of things we disagree on. I’m satisfied by me campaigning for myself in my own district. I don’t need somebody else from, you know — to come into my district.”

So, no help from Alaska?

“I don’t think so,” Shuler said, smiling and glancing over at the friends he was showing around the Capitol.

Rep. John Barrow, who represents a number of rural counties around Augusta and Savannah, Ga., was already walking quickly out of a Democratic Caucus meeting when asked about a Palin visit.

“That’s a new one on me,” Barrow said. “I don’t think she wants to campaign for me.”

Happily getting into an elevator and away from the question, he added: “It’s really not for me to make suggestions to Ms. Palin; she’s got enough to worry about.”

Over in the Senate, Palin didn’t fare much better. But a pair of Democratic senators demonstrated the delicate touch that enables them to win and hold office in red America.

“I don’t know,” Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor said with a good-natured laugh. “I usually don’t ask people to come campaign for me. I hadn’t really thought about that possibility.”

And how would Palin play in Arkansas, a state the GOP ticket carried by 20 points last year?

“I think, like a lot of places, she has some people that really like her and, you know — but overall, I’m not sure how she’d do there,” Pryor said, before ducking into a Democratic Caucus luncheon.

Spoken like the son of a senator and somebody who won with 80 percent of the vote last year.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, perhaps the most conservative Democrat in the upper chamber, might as well have been asked if he wanted self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to bring a bit of Burlington to North Platte.

“I don’t have very many of my colleagues campaign for me,” Nelson responded quickly. “I generally have been out on my own doing it: two terms as governor, now two terms in the Senate.”

So, no Palin appearances in Cornhusker Country?

“Well, I don’t think it’s necessary,” Nelson added. “I don’t look to do that. I’ve had a very limited number of people ever campaign for me, and I’ve never seen the need to expand it.” (One of them was a young, liberal-leaning senator by the name of Barack Obama, whom he asked to come to Omaha in 2006.)

For all the brushoffs, some conservative Democrats did indicate they’d at least have an open mind toward a Palin visit.

“I hadn’t given it a lot of thought,” said Rep. Gene Taylor, a Blue Dog Democrat from Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, adding: “I would not be opposed to it.” But right after opening the door, Taylor quickly closed it. “I generally don’t bring in other folks to campaign for me,” he said.

So how could she be an asset?

“Like I said, I hadn’t given it a lot of thought,” Taylor reminded, allowing only that Palin is “popular” and that “people like her.”

“OK?” he asked, or pleaded, wanting to be done with the subject.

Rep. Jim Marshall, a Democrat who represents a heavily conservative middle and south Georgia seat, sent Palin the warmest signal, if only after a brief filibuster and a bit of prompting.

“That’s an interesting thought,” Marshall said, taking a moment to chat while he took a group of college students around the Capitol. “I’d be happy to talk with her. You know, I think she’s going to have a very interesting career. It’s not surprising to me that she’s decided that she should move from being governor to whatever the next stage of her career is. Wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see her with a talk show. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a book, one or two.”

Could she be helpful in Georgia?

“I’m sure that there are many ways that she could be helpful,” Marshall said.

For him?

“Well, I suspect so — I just don’t know what ways those are,” he said with a nervous laugh.

How popular is Palin around Marshall’s Macon-area district?

“Oh, I don’t know,” Marshall responded, seeming to tire of the topic.

Asked if Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) carried his district last year, the congressman made clear just why, besides Southern hospitality, he might have been so warm toward Palin.

“McCain got 57 percent,” Marshall said before catching himself.

“McCain-Palin got 57 percent in my district,” he said, emphasizing the governor’s name and offering a final knowing laugh.

Sources: Politico, Flickr

Will Sarah Palin Remain A Major Political Figure? Many Alaskans Are Glad To See Her Go

MSNBC----


(William Kristol of “The Weekly Standard” talks with TODAY’s Natalie Morales about the likelihood of a Sarah Palin run for the White House in 2012.)

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JUNEAU, Alaska - As surprised fans and critics of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin traded guesses behind her decision to resign more than a year before her term ends, the former vice presidential candidate offered few hints at her political future, except to say she'd gone fishing.

Palin has stayed out of the public eye since she made the announcement Friday, but said in a Twitter update Sunday she was looking forward to joining her family as they commercially fish in Bristol Bay. But to many Alaskans, Palin has been off the job for awhile already, acting as a disengaged presence around the state Capitol since she returned from the presidential campaign trail last year.

"She had a surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November," said state Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat from Anchorage. "This state has a lot of problems, and she showed a complete lack of interest in solving them."

Polarizing figure:

In Alaska, Palin has become a polarizing figure and the focus of multiple ethics complaints filed against her with the state personnel board. She has taken a beating from Senate Democrats over many of her recent appointments, including an attorney general candidate who became the first Cabinet appointment ever rejected by the Alaska Legislature.

But with all the thorny issues enveloping her in Alaska, Palin's quitting may be more about something simpler: cutting her losses.

Things weren't likely to improve, if she stayed in office. She faces a potential veto override of nearly $29 million in federal stimulus funds for energy efficiency programs, money she had rejected in fear that it could bind the state to federal building mandates.

"The drumbeat of adverse news coverage from Alaska would likely have continued and intensified had she remained governor," said Juneau economist and longtime Alaska political watcher Gregg Erickson. "It would have become an increasing liability to her national campaign."

A day after abruptly announcing she would soon give up her job as governor, Palin indicated on a social networking site that she would take on a larger, national role, citing a "higher calling" to unite the country along conservative lines. In the last few months, Palin had laid the groundwork for a possible presidential run, establishing a political action committee.

Erickson said that while Palin has received an adulatory reception from social conservatives in the Lower 48 states, in Alaska she's become a lightning rod for criticism and controversy.

It's easier to govern in Alaska when oil prices are high, but they are down from last year's historic highs and the budget is much tighter. And this year, Palin's signature project, getting a natural gas pipeline, moves into a critical phase: whether North Slope leaseholders will commit to shipping gas in the pipeline, which is still at least a decade away.

Heart not in the job?

Palin has said stepping down as governor was about doing the right thing for Alaska — not wanting to be a lame duck governor if she knew she wasn't running for re-election in 2010. She also has hinted that her decision was a strategic move aimed at gearing up for a run for president.

But many political observers in Alaska say it was obvious her heart wasn't in the job.

Palin no longer delivered bagels to lawmakers. She limited her access to the media, and when she did hold news conferences, she relied on notes and her commissioners for backup. One legislator quipped after her state of the state address in January that the only eye contact she made in the legislative chamber was with the television camera.

State Sen. Gene Therriault, a Republican, says it's an unfair rap on Palin, one that was used by critics against her two predecessors.

"The detractors will always use that as a criticism because it's hard to evaluate. It's not surprising it's being used against the governor," he said. "It's an easy criticism to level, because you're never asked, 'Where's the proof?'"

Investigations, attacks from both sides
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn into office July 26, told Fox News Sunday that Palin had spoken to him about "the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like, the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska's agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment."

Erickson, the Juneau political watcher, said the governor's resignation makes sense.

"Politically, I see it as a smart move. With the complete breakdown of her alliance with Democrats that marked her first two years as governor, she has no ability to move her policies forward in legislation. Indeed, her Alaska agenda, the gas pipeline in particular, is likely to fare much better with her out of the picture," Erickson said.

Palin has also faced growing criticism within the Republican party.

Last week, Vanity Fair magazine published a highly critical piece on Palin, with unnamed John McCain campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency.



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Sources: MSNBC, Politico, Flickr, Google Maps

V.P. Joe Biden Speaks, Visits Iraq...(Palin's Resignation, Recession, Stimulus, Jobs, N. Korea)

MSNBC----

WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up.

Biden, in an interview airing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," said the nation's 9.5 percent unemployment rate is "much too high."

"The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there," Biden said.

"We misread how bad the economy was, but we are now only about 120 days into the recovery package," Biden added. More jobs will be created in coming months, he said.

Biden noted that the $787 billion economic stimulus package was set up to spend the money over 18 months. Major programs will take effect in September, including $7.5 billion for broadband Internet service, plus new money for high-speed rail and the nation's electrical grid, he said.

Biden said it's premature to say whether the country will need a second stimulus package.

On other issues:

* Biden, asked whether the United States would put the lives of U.S. troops on the line should violence flare up again in Iraq, said "no." The U.S. still plans to withdraw all troops by 2011, Biden said. "That is the intention," he said. "We believe the Iraqis will be fully capable of maintaining their own security."

* Biden said if the Iranian government seeks to engage in a dialogue with the United States, the U.S. will engage. "If the Iranians respond to the offer of engagement, we will engage," Biden said. "The offer's on the table."

* Biden said Israel has the right to pursue a different course of action on Iran than the U.S. does. "Look, Israel can determine for itself — it's a sovereign nation — what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."

* On North Korea's Saturday launch of more missiles, he said "the question is, is there anything that we should do about it? Look, this has almost become predictable behavior," Biden said. "Some of it seems like almost attention-seeking behavior." The U.S. shouldn't give North Korea the attention, he said, adding that the U.S. policy has been correct so far. "We have succeeded in uniting the most important and critical countries to North Korea on a common path of further isolating North Korea," Biden said.

* The Obama administration is "well on the way" to resolving a dispute between CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, Biden said. The conflict centers on Blair's effort to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs. "They both won," Biden said. He declined to give details, saying the resolution was not yet complete.

* Biden said he respected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to step down. "It maybe had a lot to do with what the state of their life was, and the state of their family, et cetera," Biden said. "So I'm not going to second-guess her."


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Sources: MSNBC, Whitehouse.gov, Google Maps

Palin Seeks To Control Her Media Mess....She Rose Too Quickly, Lacks Real Substance

Washington Post, MSNBC----

(In a hastily arranged news conference at her home in suburban Wasilla, Alaska Gov. Sarah abruptly announced she will formally resign from office at the end of the month. NBC’s Lester Holt and Chuck Todd discuss the possible reasons for the lawmaker’s move.)

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(Newsweek's Richard Wolffe describes for Countdown guest host David Shuster to the newly revealed tensions within the Sarah Palin campaign during the 2008 election season on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.)

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Why did Sarah Palin step down?

Theories abound. But some of the people closest to the Alaska governor say she wanted to regain control of a political script that slipped out of her hands the moment she burst onto the national stage. She also wanted to shield herself and her family from the attacks that seem to have been aimed permanently at them in the 311 days since Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced her as his running mate, according to some former campaign aides and other advisers who speak regularly with Palin or her husband, Todd.

The Sarah Palin who stood outside her Wasilla, Alaska, lakefront home Friday to surrender her term with 18 months remaining appeared vulnerable and anything but the pugnacious hockey mom and combative candidate whom Americans came to either adore or revile. The woman who said she would never blink suddenly tired of what she deemed the "superficial, wasteful political blood sport."

So she quit.

Yet Palin's vulnerability masks her firepower, ambition and strong will, advisers said. Not one to fit comfortably into convention -- and not comfortable being a victim, either -- Palin spoke Friday as if she was rolling the dice and betting on herself. She presented herself as a game-changer stepping onto a stage of her own making.

What that stage may be remains the big question looming over national politics this weekend, and advisers said she is truly undecided about running for president in 2012, or ever. But for the first time, she recently solicited money for her political action committee.

And yesterday she strongly suggested that she intends to remain a player in national politics.

"I've never thought I needed a title before one's name to forge progress in America," Palin wrote in a message to supporters on her Facebook page. "I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!"

What is certain, however, is that Palin has tired of being governor -- of working with a legislature increasingly intent on blocking her agenda, of commuting 4 1/2 hours from Wasilla to the state Capitol in Juneau, of watching her family be tabloid fodder.

This spring, as Palin was weighing whether to run for reelection in 2010, she turned to John P. Coale, a prominent Washington lawyer. He had helped her establish a political action committee and has become her political consigliere of sorts.

"She asked me, 'Well, what do you think all this is? Why are all these people attacking me?' " Coale said. "I said to her: 'Look, that's what happens. They did it to Hillary [Rodham Clinton], and Hillary just pushed through it. It's not going to really stop. . . . You just have to ignore it and move on.' "

But, Coale added, "she couldn't ignore the hits on the kids. She said, 'It brought out the mama grizzly in me.' She acted like a mother grizzly bear when her cubs were being attacked."

A leap From obscurity:

Palin's rise has been well chronicled. She was a first-term governor whose previous political experience was as mayor of a city of 9,700 when she received the call on her cellphone from McCain.

Her leap from obscurity to the GOP's national ticket sent shockwaves across the country and dramatically changed her life, bringing her as much animosity as praise. She made her debut before 30,000 cheering supporters at the Republican National Convention, announced her teenage daughter's pregnancy, stumbled through an interview with Katie Couric and saw her caricature go viral through Tina Fey's parodies.

"I just don't think that most people on planet Earth experience that, and I don't think that anybody can really even try to imagine that," said Joe Balash, one of Palin's top gubernatorial aides. He added: "I've never seen her start to buckle or fold. She's always had a pretty amazing resiliency, and her ability to juggle all that she has and does is something pretty rare and pretty special."

With the campaign behind her, Palin flew to Washington in January to build the foundation for a career independent of McCain's, and to try to restore a reputation that was damaged by her own missteps and the harsh criticism from some in McCain's camp.

Fred Malek, McCain's national finance chairman and a Palin booster, threw a party at his McLean home. There she hobnobbed with the likes of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright and former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.

The next night, Palin was Malek's guest at the Alfalfa Club dinner, an annual gathering of the Beltway elite, where Malek said she was "a star. . . . She was very popular, a lot of people wanted to meet her, she was gracious and came away feeling really good for all the right reasons."

Palin returned to Alaska encouraged, Malek and other advisers said, but her popularity back home was falling.

She soon became viewed as not interested in her state's issues, and critics blamed her for focusing too much on her national reputation, Alaska political leaders said.

About 15 ethics complaints were filed against her or her office, costing the state nearly $300,000 and her family about $500,000 in legal expenses. Some allies in Juneau turned against her.

"The way she decided to exit from state politics was surprising, but everybody knew she had essentially checked out a year ago," said Les Gara, a Democratic state representative who partnered with Palin on issues of tax reform and energy before the campaign but is now a political opponent.

"Everything became about her instead of state issues. She had a choice between personal fame and state policy, and it became personal fame 24 hours a day since she got bit by the national bug."

Uneasy in the spotlight:

Nationally things have not gone well, either, drama following Palin's every move.

"It's been hell for them," Coale said.

She couldn't visit a turkey farm in Wasilla to grant the traditional Thanksgiving pardon without the event becoming an Internet video sensation. (Behind her stood a farm worker slaughtering other turkeys.)

Her staffers wrestled publicly over whether she would appear at a big Republican fundraiser in Washington this spring. (She attended but did not speak.) Meanwhile, her teenage daughter, Bristol, and Bristol's ex-boyfriend, Levi Johnston, aired their feuds, including over the care of their infant son. Even talk show host David Letterman weighed in, joking that one of her daughters had gotten "knocked up" by baseball star Alex Rodriguez in New York.

That joke, which Palin criticized, helped persuade her to step down, Coale said.

By June, when Palin returned to Washington, she seemed less upbeat, Malek said. He had organized a foreign policy briefing on North Korea for her and met with her and Todd Palin in his downtown office.

"I came away feeling that the job, along with all the other tugs and pulls, were taking a toll on their family life," Malek said.

Former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift, a Republican who, like Palin, gave birth in office, is friendly with the Alaska governor and said, "I don't think if you asked 1,000 mothers, you'd find one who would want to trade places with her."

Another reason Palin decided to leave office is her income potential, advisers said. As governor, she earns $125,000, and Todd Palin, an oil production operator and commercial fisherman, took home about $86,000 (not counting $5,600 for winning the Iron Dog snowmobile race), according to her latest financial disclosure.

Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that her legal debt was at least $500,000 and that she was thinking of creating a defense fund to pay the bills. "Obviously, we cannot afford to personally pay these bills," she said.

The governor agreed to a book contract, the terms of which have been kept secret, and when she leaves office could begin amassing a small fortune on the speaking circuit. One adviser said she could net at least $60,000 a speech.

Squashing rumors:

The Palin camp has been trying to squash rumors that she resigned because of ethical problems. Yesterday, her private attorney, Thomas Van Flein, released a statement saying that neither the governor nor her husband gained any sort of benefit from construction of a sports facility in Wasilla.

Palin spoke to few people about her decision to step down until the announcement. "Her brother didn't even know about this," Coale said.

Her parents, Sally and Chuck Heath, in an interview with The Washington Post yesterday, offered few details about their daughter's decision.

"I know she gave it a lot of thought and prayer," Sally Heath said a few minutes before she marched in Wasilla's Fourth of July parade. "She doesn't make decisions without that. I think she made the right decision."

Most of all, others close to Palin said, the governor feels relieved that her title will soon be gone -- and with it, she hopes, some of the scrutiny.

"They're not watching much of the news, but what they have seen makes them think this is the right decision," said Jason Recher, a former McCain campaign adviser who remains close to Palin and was in touch with the family yesterday. "All the punditry and Beltway binoculars just makes their point."


Sources: Washington Post, MSNBC, Flickr

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski (AK) Blasts Sarah Palin: "You've Abandoned Our State!"

Huffington Post----


Alaska's Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski issued a surprisingly harsh statement late on Friday, ripping Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to leave office at the end of the month. "I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded," Murkowski wrote.

Palin had announced mere months ago that she would help Murkowski raise money for her 2010 Senate race.

And so the question remains: Why did Sarah Palin decide to 'abandon the state'? Is she planning to run for president in 2012, or was this her exit from politics? Was she sick of the personal attacks or was there a devastating new scandal on the horizon?

Or, perhaps the answer is something more immediate and universal: she did it for the money.

With a book due out next spring and the opportunity to make a good amount of money on the speaking circuit, Palin's motivation could have been simply to capitalize financially on her fame.

As Fox News puts it, Palin will have "a variety of potential platforms, from writing books to hitting the public speaking circuit to working directly with the Republican Party to get candidates elected" from which to pursue her goals. And in the process, "the ability to make a lot of money -- far more than the $125,000 or so a year she has earned as governor."

Similarly, Democratic strategist Bob Shrum told Politico that the Palins would likely never have to worry about money again given the Alaska governor's earning power.

"She could make more in two weeks on just speaking fees than in the rest of her time as governor," said Shrum.

According to Politico's Mike Allen, Palin's close friends say that among her immediate plans are "paid speeches, and [she] will spend time writing her book, which is due this fall, then promote it heavily when it comes out in spring 2010."

The advance Palin received for the book, which will be published by HarperCollins and has been described as a tell-all memoir, is not known. The Anchorage Daily News reported in May:

The governor said details will be disclosed as required under Alaska law when her annual financial disclosures are due next March. Her advance from the publisher is likely to be paid in stages, though, and it's not clear if she has to disclose the full amount on that report or only the portion received in 2009, according to the state public offices commission.

At the very least, Time notes, this can only prove to be good publicity for her memoir:

One project that will receive a boost from Sarah Palin's plan to step down as the governor of Alaska is her much-touted autobiography, for which it will provide a hotly anticipated chapter.



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Sources: Huffington, Politico, Flickr, Google Maps

Palin's WTF Resignation Announcement Creates Conflict Within G.O.P.

Politico----

(Palin's haphazard resignation.)

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Sarah Palin’s jaw-dropping announcement that she is quitting her job as Alaska governor before finishing even her first term has divided Republican ranks and the wider political community in a very familiar fashion.

Many establishment GOP operatives and political commentators of various stripes were withering, both about the decision and the way she announced it—in a jittery, hyperkinetic news conference that rambled between self-congratulation and bitter accusations at the foes she says are eager to destroy her.

The performance, by these lights, adds credence to the claims of some associates that Palin—burned by the intense scrutiny on her and the crossfire that swirls around her—is so fed up that she's ready to get out of elective politics. Even if it's only the small stage of Alaska politics she hopes to escape, skeptics say Friday’s events also diminished and perhaps even demolished what was left of her viability as a 2012 presidential candiate.

But her defenders believed an unorthodox move, even if risky, has a clear logic and may only further increase her standing with conservatives who don’t care what establishment figures in or out of the GOP think. Leaving the governor’s office at the end of this month leaves her free to travel the country, command large speaking fees, and begin the process of rallying her devotees without pesky home-state opponents criticizing every move.

These varied reactions were an echo of the debates that have followed Palin every step since her nomination as John McCain’s running mate ten months ago—a surprise that turned out to be just the first of many surprises served up by one of the most colorful and polarizing American political figures in a generation.

At the heart of these conflicting interpretations, say people close to Palin, is a woman who is herself deeply conflicted about her brief past in national politics and how to leverage her sudden fame for the future.

Some of her trusted outside advisers were not informed of her plans to suddenly resign from office until today – they thought she was only to announce she would not run for re-election.

Fred Malek, a longtime Republican fundraiser and Palin ally, played host to the governor and her husband, Todd, less than a month again in Washington and said it was “so clear to me that she was terribly unhappy with the position she was in and the role she was playing.”

He didn’t learn of Palin’s decision until he got a phone call from the governor this morning, when she cited the pressures of a job that had become consumed with FOIA requests and ethics investigations and the demands it taken on her family and national political prospects.

Another prominent GOP source who is close to Palin, who also had no inkling of Palin’s decision to quit until today, said: “Things had piled up pretty steep on her.”

Meg Stapleton, Palin’s Alaska-based spokesperson, called it “a fighting move.”

But even Stapleton acknowledged that the job Palin said she loved during the press conference had become a drag

“It’s a liberating feeling…she can’t get out of there soon enough,” said Stapleton.

But liberation comes at a potentially steep price. These include brutal reviews from many Republicans, who believe that quitting mid-term in the fashion she did amounts to political suicide.

“There is just no good way to say quitting has made her more qualified to run for higher office,” said veteran GOP pollster Glen Bolger.

Until Friday, after all, Stapleton and others close to Palin had been saying for months that the governor would take an Alaska-first approach and eschew national affairs. The hope was to compile more of a record and develop more policy authority.

“I think Sarah Palin is on the verge of becoming the Miami Vice of American politics: Something a lot of people once thought was cool and then 20 years later look back, shake their heads and just kind of laugh,” quipped Republican media consultant Todd Harris.

Even those who were less critical of her choice were taken aback by Palin’s rambling, hard-to-follow news conference by the side of a lake outside her home. The performance had shades of Richard Nixon’s “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore” news promise in 1962, as well as Mark Sanford’s bizarre exercise in self-revelation just last month.

Palin mixed analogies to herself as a basketball player who knows “when it’s time to pass the ball” with bitter commentary against “political operatives [who] descended on Alaska—digging for dirt” as part of a “superficial, wasteful political bloodsport.”

“Palin is at her best when she’s being folksy but there is no way to be folksy when you’re resigning as governor,” said veteran GOP strategist Dan Schnur.

She portrayed her resignation as a selfless choice done for the good of Alaskans.She said they will now be free of the expensive and distracting—and she said bogus—ethics inquiries generated by her new prominence. “Some Alaskans, maybe they don’t mind wasting public dollars and state time, but I do,” she said.

But some believe Palin, for all the loose and improvisational feel of her news conference, was making a calculated guess that she is now bigger than Alaska’s small and remote political stage can handle.

With a recent book deal and ability for paid speaking engagements giving her great financial freedom, reasoned GOP communications strategist Carl Forti, “If she wants to run for national office it makes sense to get out of Alaska and around the lower 48. Resigning makes that possible.”

Malek and some of her other outside advisers expressed skepticism that she would run for president in 2012, but others saw in the move today the beginnings of a national campaign.

“She’s now made sure that she is entirely a movement candidate,” said veteran Democratic strategist Bob Shrum. “She brings no real experience to the table at all, but now this frees her up to carve out her own Goldwater-like movement.”

And then there is a practical matter, Shrum noted: Palin and her husband, with five children of their own and a new grandson, will likely never have to worry about money again.

“She could make more in two weeks on just speaking fees than in the rest of her time as governor,” said Shrum.

The move may also be pragmatic if Palin really does want to lay the groundwork for a presidential run.

“I don't think you can do a competent job of being a governor of a state next door to Russia and run seriously for president of the United States,” said Charlie Cook. “It's hard enough to do one of those two, let alone both. While Bill Clinton ran while being governor of Arkansas and George W. Bush as governor of Texas, Little Rock and Austin are not that far by Cessna Citation or Gulfstream from New Hampshire or Florida or California.”

And, Cook noted, there is little political upside to being a governor during difficult economic times, when the options usually range from tax or fee increases to budget cuts.

“Bailing out early may avoid making some of those tough decisions,” said Cook.

William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and an outspoken Palin defender, acknowledged Palin’s move was “an enormous gamble” but said it could prove smart.

“Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues--and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska,” said Kristol.

Stapleton cited issues Palin was passionate about – energy, national security and free enterprise – but indicated that the governor was being vague about what she planned to do next for a reason.

“Those blanks need to be filled in,” said Stapleton when asked specifically what Palin planned after turning her office over to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.



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Palin's Resignation Possibly Linked To A Pending Criminal Investigation... More G.O.P. Scandals Brewing

The Daily Beast----

(Palin suddenly announces her resignation without prior notice? Hmmm something smells fishy here. What is she running from?)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The suddenness of Sarah Palin’s resignation raises questions about whether a coming scandal caused her to leave office. Max Blumenthal looks at one possibility.

CNN and other major news outlets have reported that Sarah Palin has abruptly resigned as governor of Alaska. The suddenness of her announcement raises the question about whether Palin resigned to avert a major scandal. One logical place to start looking is the affair that has Alaska political circles buzzing: an alleged scandal centered around a building contractor, Spenard Building Supplies, with close ties to Palin and her husband, Todd.

Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide-open state.

SBS has close ties to the Palins. The company has not only sponsored Todd Palin's snowmobile team, according to the Village Voice's Wayne Barrett, it hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004.

Though Todd Palin told Fox News he built his Lake Lucille home with the help of a few "buddies," according to Barrett’s report, public records revealed that SBS supplied the materials for the house. While serving as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin blocked an initiative that would have required the public filing of building permits—thus momentarily preventing the revelation of such suspicious information.

Just months before Palin left city hall to campaign for governor, she awarded a contract to SBS to help build the $13 million Wasilla Sports Complex. The most expensive building project in Wasilla history, the complex cost the city an additional $1.3 million in legal fees and threw it into severe long-term debt. For SBS, however, the bloated and bungled project was a cash cow.

Prior to her sudden announcement, Palin gave every indication that she intended to complete her tenure as governor.

On July 1, Palin met with Alaska Senator Mark Begich to discuss funding for the missile-defense systems that would be stationed in Alaska. In May, Palin initiated a plan to circumvent the state legislature by introducing a ballot measure that would ban minors from receiving abortions without parental consent. She vowed to be the first to sign the measure event though it would not be certified until August 2010.

In a press conference today, Palin blamed the media for her demise. "You are naïve if you don't see a full-court press on the national level, picking apart a good point guard," she declared, using a basketball metaphor to refer to the flood of critical stories published about her.

On July 1, CBS reported that a story authored by me and journalist David Neiwert for Salon.com in October 2008 about Palin's ties to a secessionist political party caused her deep personal distress, and provoked a rancorous series of exchanges with her campaign manager, Steve Schmidt. Coupled with a withering profile of Palin published in the August 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, the new round of exposés may have been too much for Palin to stomach.

Palin may have resigned from politics altogether. According to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Palin "has told some of her biggest backers in the national Republican Party that they are free to choose other candidates for 2012." But those choices are dwindling at a surprisingly rapid pace.


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