Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said she’s not only staying involved in national politics, but plans to jump back into the national scrum when she leaves office at the end of the month.
The former Republican vice presidential nominee said she plans to write a memoir, campaign for political candidates from coast to coast — even Democrats who share her views on limited government, national defense and energy independence — and build a right-of-center coalition.
“I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation,” she said during an interview published on Sunday in the Washington Times.
Palin shocked critics and allies alike when she announced on July 3 that she would leave the governor’s office while in the middle of her first term. The governor chose not to seek re-election and suggested it was unfair to hold onto the office as a lame duck.
Instead, she will step down on July 26 and pursue a national profile, she said.
She has not said whether she is building toward a presidential campaign for 2012.
Republican Women Federated of Simi Valley announced Palin was scheduled to speak to the group’s private gala on Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The event — reporters will not be allowed to attend — will take place in an airplane hangar that houses a retired presidential aircraft Air Force One and will stir more questions about her curious resignation.
Palin defended the decision because “pragmatically, Alaska would be better off” if her state weren’t spending time on ethical complaints against her. She also said the plan to resign had been in the works for months.
Her running mate disputed suggestions the telegenic and plainspoken soon-to-be-former-official was a quitter.
“Oh, I don’t think she quit,” said Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee who plucked Palin out of near-obscurity and made her a household name.
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