Sarah Palin’s resignation as Alaska governor sets off speculation

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s abrupt announcement that she was quitting her job unleashed widespread speculation: Some said she was ready to launch a 2012 bid for president. Others suggested she had destroyed her chances with her startling decision.

Palin, speaking from the backyard of her lakefront home in Wasilla, Alaska, said Friday that she had ruled out seeking a second term and, for the good of the state, would step down at the end of the month and hand the job to her lieutenant governor.

In disjointed and cryptic remarks, she intimated that she would stay active in national politics. “We know we can effect positive change outside government at this point in time on another scale and actually make a difference for our priorities,” she said, flanked by her husband, Todd, and members of their family -- whom she described as exuberant supporters of her resignation.

Many took that to mean a full-fledged run for the Republican nomination, without the encumbrance of her office and the difficulty of navigating a national campaign while running a state thousands of miles from the action.

But the fact that Palin, 45, will vacate her elected post without finishing the four-year term -- which would have bolstered a political resume already thin enough that it hampered her 2008 bid for vice president -- led some analysts to suggest that she had badly damaged herself, perhaps irretrievably.

“I always thought after the race what she needed to do was go back to Alaska and be substantive, show she’s got a grasp of government and work for the good of the folks back home. This seems to be the exact opposite,” said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent campaign analyst in Washington. “This makes her subject to the criticism that for whatever reason -- she gets tired, bored, criticized too much -- she just walks away.”

Palin experienced a rapid ascent after Sen. John McCain of Arizona plucked her from relative obscurity last summer to serve as his running mate. She was a huge hit at the Republican National Convention, delivering a tenacious attack on the Democratic ticket in a fetching, folksy manner.

But her image quickly frayed after some disastrous TV interviews turned her into a punch line for late-night comics; Tina Fey’s impersonation of Palin on “Saturday Night Live” became a cultural touchstone and a burden the candidate carried all fall.

Palin remains a favorite of social conservatives, who have traditionally exerted strong influence over the selection of the Republican nominee. That support and her near-universal name recognition had placed her near the top of early polls for the 2012 GOP contest. A spokeswoman said Friday that Palin’s political action committee, SarahPAC, continued to accept donations, which rose after her announcement.

But Palin draws visceral contempt from many Democrats, political independents and even Republicans -- among them some McCain advisors who shared their sentiments, anonymously, in a recent unflattering article in Vanity Fair magazine.

Palin seemed to allude to those attacks at her hastily called news conference. “You are naive if you don’t see a full-court press from the national level picking away a good point guard,” said Palin, who was a famously aggressive basketball star in high school.

She said her decision to step down with 18 months left in her term had been some time in the making, though she never clearly spelled out why. She did not take questions.

“Many just accept that lame-duck status, and they hit that road,” Palin said. “They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I’m not going to put Alaskans through that.”

Palin alternately expressed pain and relief at her decision to resign, saying it was “best for Alaska.” She also suggested it was best for her family. “I polled the most important people in my life -- my kids -- where the count was unanimous,” she said. “It was four yeses and one ‘Hell, yeah!’ And the ‘Hell, yeah’ sealed it.”

Palin said her successor, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, would be sworn in July 26 at the governor’s annual picnic in Fairbanks. Parnell said he learned of Palin’s decision Wednesday evening.

“It’s a gob-smacking, jaw-hit-the-ground, total kind of surprise,” said Ivan Moore, an independent pollster in Anchorage, who said Palin had been a strong favorite to win a second term. He was skeptical of her national appeal.

“Whatever possibility she had of being President Palin, Vice President Palin or even U.S. Sen. Palin is gone now,” Moore said. “She ended her political career.”

Walking away from a job like governor for any reason besides poor health, scandal or political promotion is highly unusual, and Palin’s action raised questions of whether some damaging revelation was in the offing.

“She has to understand, when one resigns from office abruptly like that, people are going to be suspicious,” said Ken Khachigian, a GOP strategist and Palin fan. “If I were advising her, I would say, ‘You have to take the next step, and you better make it quick.’ ”

The good looks of a former beauty queen combined with the ruggedness of a frontierswoman sparked for Palin a kind of mania not generated by the typical candidate for vice president.

There was fascination with her pastimes of hunting and fishing, and admiration for her ability to balance work and home as the mother of five children -- including Bristol, a pregnant teenager, and Trig, a newborn with Down syndrome. But reports that the GOP had spent more than $150,000 on a designer wardrobe, hairstyling, makeup and accessories clashed with her unassuming “hockey mom” image and proved an unwelcome distraction to the campaign.

The attention scarcely died down after November. There was a public spat between the Palin family and the estranged father of Bristol’s child, Levi Johnston. More recently, Palin quarreled with comedian David Letterman over a joke about one of her daughters getting “knocked up” during a New York Yankees game. Letterman later apologized.

The Vanity Fair article sparked open sniping between McCain’s lead strategist, Steve Schmidt, and Palin’s defenders, resurrecting the internal animus that marked the end of the presidential campaign and underscoring Palin’s polarizing place in the GOP. Some who advised Palin during the campaign said privately that they had walked away convinced that she was not suited for national office.

Back in Alaska, things were never the same for Palin after her turn on the national stage. She faced a raft of ethics complaints. Her stratospheric approval ratings settled into the mortal 50% to 55% range, and her relations were testy with lawmakers of both parties. In April, they took the unprecedented step of blocking her choice for state attorney general. The Legislature now seems poised to override Palin’s veto of $28 million in federal stimulus funding for energy-conservation projects.

Given her rough last few months and less-than-heroic return to Alaska, some suggested Palin’s resignation may not be such a bad move.

“She needed to shake things up, and this announcement has no shortage of drama,” said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with any prospects in the 2012 field. “It allows her to have a brand-new day, a fresh start, and she can shake all those cobwebs from the last campaign and her term as governor and start over.”

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mark.barabak@latimes.com

robin.abcarian@latimes.com

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Palin’s time in the spotlight

A look at some of the events in Gov. Sarah Palin’s political career:

December 2006: The former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, becomes governor after defeating an incumbent in the Republican primary and then beating a former governor in the general election.

August 2008: John McCain picks Palin as his vice presidential running mate, making her the first woman named to a spot on a Republican national ticket.

September 2008: An announcement that Palin’s then-17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant creates a stir as the governor prepares to accept her nomination at the Republican National Convention.

October 2008: Palin is investigated for the firing of a public safety commissioner who said he felt pressure from the governor, her husband and her staff to fire a state trooper who had gone through a divorce from Palin’s sister. The Alaska Legislature finds Palin abused her power in office, but a report released by the Alaska Personnel Board on the eve of the election clears Palin of wrongdoing in “Troopergate.”

November 2008: McCain and Palin lose the 2008 presidential race to Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

June 2009: Palin blasts comedian David Letterman for making a joke about her daughter getting “knocked up” by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Letterman apologizes.

July 2009: Palin makes the surprise announcement that she is resigning from her post as governor at the end of the month.

Source: Associated Press