Sarah Palin Resigning

The Setting: Sarah Palin said she will stop down as Governor of Alaska by the end of this month and will not run for a second term in 2010.

Palin gave a press conference where she didn't really provide a clear reason why she is resigning but she did say:

"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."

One annoymous source feels that Palin's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state. Here are Mark Halperin's 10 Possible Reasons for Palin's Decision. I think the main reason is #10 - she's stepping down so she can start the process for becoming the Republican party's 2012 presidential nominee. We'll see...