SARAH PALIN

Hmmm.

So Sarah is resigning because she doesn't want to "accept that lame duck status" and "draw a paycheck" and "kind of milk it" and "put Alaskans through that".

Ridiculous. You don't run for public office, particularly a powerful position like Governor of a state, and then resign when you decide not to run for re-election. You have a civic responsibility to serve out your term, to exercise the powers of your office according to the promises you made to the people who voted for you.

Only Sarah knows the real reasons she decided to resign.

It seems to me there are a few possibilities.

First, she may have gotten a taste of national politics and hated it. The timing of the recent Vanity Fair article would support that idea. She was asked to join the GOP ticket. She did. She did her best, and for a brief moment, enthusiasm for her choice lifted GOP poll numbers above the Democrats'. But, in the end, her ticket lost and her own inexperience was blamed as a factor in the loss. Sniping from ex-McCain personnel has been ugly and painful.

Sarah has five children, and Bristol has a newborn Palin grandchild she can't support. I don't know if you've been in a similar situation. I've helped raise four kids, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Sarah Palin has decided that her young family needs her more than Anchorage does these days. She may really have decided to leave public life for a while and to stay home with her kids.

But there are other possibilites.

Sarah may have gotten a taste of national politics and LOVED it! It's quite possible she has offers to do national fundraisers or to be a Fox fake news spokesperson that would get her out of Alaska and onto a national stage. She may simply be quitting her present job because she got a better offer. It would be typical of the faux patriotism displayed by many on the right. Country First -and by Country I mean ME!

Only Sarah really knows what's going on. But it will be easy for the rest of us to tell if either of these guesses is right. Three months from now Sarah will either be (1) in Wasila taking care of her kids while her name fades away from the news or (2) somewhere else - Los Angeles, New York, Dallas - trying to get ready for 2012 candidacy.

I hope she gets the nomination. It would be even better if the 20% of Americans who vote for her in 2012 decide to move to Alaska after she loses.

There's another possibility, considering the moral depravity of the GOP these days. She may be facing some terrible legal or personal crisis. Will she be arrested for leaking classified information to the media? - no, that's Karl Rove's nightmare. Is she facing charges for reaching under a bathroom stall seeking gay sex? - no, that was ex-Senator Larry Craig. Did she disappear on National Nude Hiking Day, with a cover story that she was hiking the Appalachian trail, and then surface tearfully with a confession that she had an Argentinian lover? Are you making this up? No, really, that happened, but it didn't involve Sarah Palin. Still, with GOP lowlifes, it's always a possibility.

Let's see if Sarah ends up spending October 1, 2009 in Wasila or elsewhere. Is she a devoted mother? Or something else?