Sunday, July 05, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Sarah Palin, who sought the US vice presidency in 2008, has announced she is stepping down as Alaska governor, fueling swift speculation on Saturday of a possible 2012 White House bid.
Palin, who was Republican John McCain’s running mate in last year’s failed presidential campaign, said she would step aside as governor and would be replaced by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell at the end of July.
Palin, 45, told a press conference at her lakefront home in Wasilla, Alaska, that she wanted to “take a stand and effect change, not just hit our head against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain.”
In leaving her post before the end of her first term, Palin, the first woman to stand on a Republican presidential ticket, will be able to travel across the country more freely and build up a national political team, clearing the way for a potential presidential bid of her own.
A June 2 CNN poll had Palin running neck-and-neck with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and ex-Arkansas governor Mick Huckabee in the top three favorites to head up the Republican 2012 ticket.
While hinting at broader ambitions, Palin also lamented what she called a “superficial, wasteful, political bloodsport.”
Staying in power as a lame-duck official after deciding not to run for re-election “would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose,” she added, insisting her decision “has been in the works for quite a while.”
The announcement came as a complete surprise to Alaskans, including members of her own cabinet. “Frankly, we didn’t know about it ‘till we got out there,” Alaska Department of Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin told AFP. “It was pretty shocking.”
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