WASHINGTON (CNN) – Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to a second gubernatorial term in 2010.
Palin, a Republican, was elected governor in 2006. She was tapped as Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate last year.
Palin said she was transferring authority to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in on July 26.
"People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska," Palin said at an announcement from her home in Wasilla.
"Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine."
Palin added in a statement that she was "determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path. ... 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."
A Republican source close to Palin's political team told CNN's John King that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on."
The governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction up" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes that she is "mapping out a path to 2012."
Another source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Palin "thinks she has accomplished goals she has set forward. ... She sees what a positive influence she has had on people's lives from traveling the country in the last year."
As the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Palin has been considered one of the front-runners for the next GOP presidential nomination. Her decision not to seek another term as governor is sure to stoke speculation that Palin is seriously eyeing a run for the White House.
In an interview last month with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Palin said she was unsure about her re-election bid because she needed to focus on her state and her family.
"So, no decision yet on either 2010 or let alone 2012?" Blitzer asked.
"No decision that I'd want to announce today," Palin responded.
– CNN's Peter Hamby, John King, Mark Preston, and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.
(Updated at 4:45 p.m. with additional information)
From CNN Politics
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Finally. The RNC doesn't want her, Capitol Hill doesn't want her and now Alaskans have gotten their point out that they don't want her either. No loss there.
Dwight Frye July 3rd, 2009 3:27 pm ET
As long as Obama is not allowed to rely on his teleprompter crutch, Sarah Palin will embarrass him in a debate! Bring it on — hooyah!!!
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Let's be honest here because I know we will have our Faux news talking points like the one above.
Sarah Palin is zero intellectual competition for our current CIC. Obama graduated Harvard with honors, a constitutional professor and Sarah Palin can see Russia from her window. The govenor has a journalism degree that took her 6 years to get.
I put my money on Obama in the brains category
You mean "going back to schools." She has quit so many colleges in her education that this is second nature to her...
"So Sarah is going for to run for President as a one-term governor of the country’s third least-populous state, elected with only 48% of the vote, who spent half of that term running for national office. Sure, works for me."
Can't be any worse than we have now.
Do you think Sarah Palin is going to be a lobbist?
Finally, some REAL news on Palin! May she find her way to Russia and stay there!
Okay, now can we get the clowns in the White House to follow suit?
Bizarre. Strange. Something's up.
maybe she will run for the Senate. Go Sarah!!
She is a joke.
Why is she resigning? This woman is going to run for president with half a term as governor under her belt? This is pure comedy.
Yaaaawwwnnnnnn!.
I'll bet there is an indictment coming down the pike,
I doubt she is going to go away. One can hope though!
Good move, Gov. Palin. Please run for Pres. in 2012
And yet.....what has she SUBSTANTIVELY accomplished during her short term...? Honestly...
So much speculation! Why doesn't everyone wait until she tells why.
I, for one, hope it is to focus on 2012. But then again, I wouldn't blame her if she told everyone to take a hike. Attacking her children, in more ways than one, is not right. They aren't the politician, she is. She is fair game, her kids are not!!!!!!
Go Sarah! Do what is best for you, your family & those of us that support you.
I consider myself a conservative.
Please. Sarah. Just fade please. *sigh*
I still can't get over how John McCain put this country at risk with his selection of Palin to be only a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Predictable.
A true Politician, working for herself and herself only. NEVER for the people.
It makes no sense to resign now in order to run for president. Also, why would we want to get rid of Alaska? There's so much water there, that would be stupid.
Liberal Derangement Syndrome in .................................3...............2.................1
I thank God everyday that my difference in policies with OUR president never comes close to the vitriolic hatred shown towards this woman by "tolerant , open minded" people
Palin's decision not to seek another run for governor makes her dangerous to Alaskans for the remainder of her term as she plays up to a national audience out of touch with social justice in Alaska or the enduring needs of its people..
I feel like I am taking crazy pills....could she really be elected President of the United States?
Palin resigning now, yet still with more experience and integrity than that Usurper in the whitehouse now.