The news conference came at the end of a week in which a Vanity Fair article about Palin brought renewed focus on many of the criticisms of her as a candidate for Vice-President under John McCain and set off a new round of recriminations among McCain’s advisors about her competence.

Palin’s announcement was another unusual marker in a tumultuous year for this first-term Governor since McCain turned her into a national figure overnight by surprising his own party and naming her his running mate.

At one point, she described how her children had voted in favour of her doing this — “Four yeses and one Hell, yeah!” she said.

But at another point she invoked a military quotation, misattributing it to Gen Douglas MacArthur, in what seemed to be an effort to wave aside any suggestion that she was abandoning the fight. “He said, ‘We’re not retreating; we are advancing in another direction’,” she said. (The remark was actually said by Maj Gen Oliver Prince Smith.)

Later in the afternoon, as questions reverberated in Republican circles about what exactly she intended to do, Palin posted a notice on her Twitter site, reading: “We’ll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election... This is in Alaska’s best interest, my family’s happy... It is good, stay tuned.”

Palin is among a number of governors who are possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Many Republican strategists say that it would be difficult for someone to run for Governor in 2010 and turn around immediately, while running a state, and run for President in 2012. Quitting midterm set off speculation about what led her to leave so abruptly.

... contd.