AK-Gov: Palin Resigning!

Blurb at the top of CNN’s website right now:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to announce that she will not seek a second term, a GOP source close to Palin says.

This is not a surprise – many folks (including myself) have been speculating about this possibility for a long while. What it means is that we’ll certainly have some damn good entertainment on the GOP presidential campaign trail – a welcome relief, given Mark Sanford’s implosion.

As for more Swing State-y matters, we now have to wonder if Dem Ethan Berkowitz will get into the race. The CQ piece cited in the linked post said that Berkowitz was “gearing up for another statewide race – against Gov. Sarah Palin, if she chooses to run for re-election.” So this may mean he won’t take the leap. And that would make sense – our best shot at this seat meant being able to run against the extremely damaged Palin. Now we have a Babs Cubin/John Doolittle/Duke Cunningham-type situation, where the toxic goods have vamoosed too soon.

The Swing State Project currently rates this as a Race to Watch. But if Dems fail to recruit a legitimate candidate, this race will likely drop off our watch list.

WHOA UPDATE (and edit to title): Just flipped on CNN, and they are saying that their affiliates in Alaska are saying Palin is going to resign in a month! WHOA!

LOCAL UPDATE: KTUU in Alaska is indeed confirming that she’ll leave office in a month. WTF? Scandal? Exhaustion? This would seem to irreparably damage her for a presidential run, no?

WHAT NOW? UPDATE: So according to the AK constitution:

If the governor-elect dies, resigns, or is disqualified, the lieutenant governor elected with him shall succeed to the office of governor for the full term.

The current LG is Sean Parnell, who super-narrowly lost in a primary last year against corrupt Rep. Don Young. Earlier in the year, Parnell talked up a possible rematch, but more recently seemed to back off those plans. Did he know something like this was coming?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jed at Daily Kos is liveblogging her press conference. Even though any normal person would regard resigning mid-term as the end of one’s political career, Sarah Palin is anything but normal. She just said, “America is looking north to the future.” That lunatic actually thinks she’s running for president. Wow.

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH UPDATE: During her presser, Palin apprently said that the “decision has been in the works for a while.” So presumably Parnell was in the know here. Will Don Young live to ride another day?

RaceTracker: AK-Gov

103 thoughts on “AK-Gov: Palin Resigning!”

  3. While I had a feeling she wouldn’t seek re-election, I’m really surprised to see her step down.

  5. I doubt it but i don’t know why she would quit her day job this early. I guess there could be some big scandal boiling up.

  7.          I just saw her press conference, that was the weirdest thing I think I have ever seen in politics. I bet you anything there has to be some shit that’s going to hit the fan very soon. Also why would she announce during a holiday weekend.

  8. Please, please, please nominate this fruitcake for president! You know you want to.

  10. She is tired of politics entirely and is not running for national office.  She told her fundraisers and backers they could support someone else fro 2012 and that she just wanted to raise her family.

  12. Sarah Palin is resigning?

    Is she doing this to get out of public life, or is there a gambit going on here?

    I’m calling gambit until proven innocent.

  13. A scandal is about to hit, and better to make an announcement now then later… but Ensign admitted the scandal and didn’t resign, so Palin would be doing it backwards.

    It makes no sense at all to resign to start running for President now.  People in Iowa would want to see her in 2011, and even 2010, but 2009 for hard campaigning.  It’s beyond ridiculous.

    Cue the the wingnuts:  “the media drove this poor lady from office”, etc etc.

  15. For picking correctly the next 2012 GOP shocker? Haley Barbour in a lobbying scandal? Mitt Romney the bigamist? Someone recognizes Tim Pawlenty?

  16. this is bizarre.  I’ll tell you one thing.  This is NOT so she can focus on running full time for president.  Iowa and New Hampshire are not for two and a half years.  If she was up for that she would have just retired at the end of her term.  This is something really nuts about to break and she wants out.

  17. or starting her own media show.  This would follow from what she said, sort of goinf above government to have an impact as a celebrity.

    Rush makes $15 million a year.  That could go a long way in Wasilla, and could be done from Anchorage, etc.

    “Wingnutting with Sara”… lots of people would listen/watch.

  19. Politically, this move could go either way. It could end up being shrewd or could end up backfiring. Shrewd because…well, lets face it…the economy is only gonna get worse and that will include Alaska. It may be better, politically, just to bail now. But it could backfire because…the public will think she has an incredibly thin resume. Her only major experience is 2 1/2 years as Gov. of Alaska. 4 years is arguably not much more but its still a much bigger number than 2 1/2. But, as I have been saying before, she shouldnt even run for Pres. in 2012. If ever. The public perception of her is that she is a dimwitted person who is not intelligent enough to be President. It is very difficult to change that kind of perception. Some even say impossible. Whether its true or not (and i think it probably is) doesnt matter. it is what it is. and she needs to accept that fact. She is very young so if she wants to run for Pres. she should just wait. I know its hard…but politics is hard. Life is hard. And one last point…she may think she is ‘striking while the iron is hot’. The iron is only hot in the GOP. Amongst swing voters…not so much. In fact…its quite chilly. And she should know there is much more than just the GOP primary.  

  21. Really I think alot of my fears about Palin being a poor 2012 nominee were just confirmed with this latest move by Palin. I think this will hurt her alot. Things lately just keep getting better and better for my man Romney!

    I still like Palin alot, but I dont want her to be our nominee in 2012

  24. do they want to give the nomination to darth pawlenty?!!!

    and why didn’t she just follow pawlenty’s lead and announce that she’s not running in ’10 and then completely quit on her state?  i don’t think we’ll see tpaw around here much at all in the next couple of years.

    besides being guv of alaska isn’t a full-time job, is it?

    good news for pawlenty, huckabee and romney.

  25. TV for sure.

    “The media will never understand”

    Because they don’t understand moronspeak.

    “it’s about country”

    WHAT is?  Oh, her quitting to make way for a non-lunatic to be Governor, okay.

    She is a gift that keeps on giving.  C’mon Sarah, try and become a better friend to us than the Club for Growth.  You are close already, you can do it.

  27. Last year I tried to connect that line (spoken by the 10th Doctor to an aide to PM Harriet Jones…the “six words” that in short order brought down her government and ended her political career) to Sarah Palin. It got a few knowing chuckles, but didn’t gain real traction as an Internet meme.

    Now, though…damn, she really DOES look tired.

Comments are closed.