Charlie Cook, one of our favorite political analysts, emails his reaction to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resigning earlier today.
I'm not surprised that Palin isn't running for re-election, but resigning did catch me off guard.
I wonder whether it will be possible to be a sitting governor in 2011 and 2012 while running for the Republican nomination, but particularly from a state as far away from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and the key money states as Alaska. Running for President from Little Rock as Gov. Bill Clinton did, or running from Austin as Gov. George W. Bush did, was hard in 1992 and 2000, and harder now with the campaigns longer, more expensive and more intense. But being CEO of a state next door to Alaska from Juneau while seriously running for the nomination would be incredibly hard. Someone might be an effective governor or a serious candidate but not both. So I see this as a shrewd move.
The resignation is more interesting, but two arguments can be made. There is currently a vacuum in the 2012 GOP presidential race -- no Ensign or Sanford, probably not Jindal, Romney is not fresh or new, and Pawlenty isn't exciting either. She may feel like she can have an open field.
The other reason is that with state revenues dropping due to the recession -- and it is suicidal for a Republican to raise taxes -- there may be too many tough and politically costly decisions to make. She might be better off bailing out.
Though what Palin has done is outside the box, it's not crazy and might make sense.
I thought she would announce not running for re-election. The resignation surprised me but there is a certain logic to it.
