One could consider that there's not so much tactical politics behind it; she is, after all, a person - and in 2008 she really did bare her soul and personality to the nation, fiercely, and far more than she could handle.

Maybe that spun out into this. She's an unpopular national celebrity whose defining traits are all deeply personal. And a mom of several children. And I doubt she has that many friends in the GNP. Maybe she wants something closer to a sane life again, and the timing is more incidental than not.

I generally agree with that, but I think the implication that she's doing this to run in 2012 is laughable.

She's done with politics. I don't think she was ever cut out for it. After all, a French DJ played a prank on her and she didn't care. She's history. This is the last times we will hear of her, unless she's the Ira Hayes of the Republican '08 run.

She'll gone done in conservative history as the woman who got a black democrat elected.

Alaska Governor Palin to resign


Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has announced she will resign as governor of Alaska on 26 July and not run for re-election.

Mrs Palin's term of office was due to end in 2010.

Some have speculated that Mrs Palin, who is popular with the Republican Party base, might be preparing to make a bid for the White House in 2012.

But a report on NBC news suggested that Mrs Palin intends to get "out of politics for good".

Her resignation means Alaska's Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell will take over as state governor.

'New direction'

Polls indicated Mrs Palin was very popular in Alaska during the first few years of her governorship, and although her approval ratings have dipped somewhat since her vice-presidential run, she still enjoys widespread popularity in her home state.

Mrs Palin announced her decision in a statement from her home town of Wasilla, Alaska.

"I'm taking my fight for what's right in a new direction," she said, as her family looked on.

Mrs Palin did not reveal what she intended to do after leaving office, and did not give an explicit reason for her decision not to run for re-election.

But in a written statement, she made it clear that once she had decided not to run again, she did not want to hang on in office until her term expired.

"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," she said.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington says Mrs Palin's revelation came out of the blue, as most Americans were turning to the celebration of Independence Day on 4 July.

She offered no single clear reason for stepping down, our correspondent adds, but the strongest clue was her depiction of what it had been like to be the subject of sustained attack by liberals since she appeared on the national stage.

She didn't leave the limelight once McCain lost the presidency. She recently led a public spat with Late Show host David Letterman over a joke he made about one of her daughters being "knocked up" by New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez during the governor's recent visit to New York. Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is an unwed, teenage mother. Letterman later apologized for the joke.

Palin also complained that her 14-month-old son, Trig, who was diagnosed with Down's syndrome, had been "mocked and ridiculed by some mean-spirited adults recently." She didn't elaborate.

Fred Malek, a Republican strategist who has advised Palin over the past year, said Palin was "really unhappy with the way her life was going."

"She felt that the pressures of the job combined with her family obligations and the demands and desires to help other Republican candidates led her to decide not to run again. Once that decision was made, she realized, why not do it now and let the lieutenant governor take over and get a head start on his election," Malek said.