Rove: Palin resignation part of ‘risky strategy’

updated 10:04 p.m. ET July 5, 2009

WASHINGTON - One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won't help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush's chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Palin's announcement that she would not seek a second term — and leave office before finishing her first — simply doesn't make sense in a conventional political setting. Karl Rove, a longtime Bush counselor, said Palin has engaged in a "risky strategy."

Then again, the pair said, Palin has never been a conventional candidate and her stunning announcement on Friday is what they have come to expect from the Republicans' 2008 vice presidential candidate.

"She marches to the beat of her own drum, and it's going to be very interesting to see how she pulls this off," Rove said.

Palin on Friday announced she wouldn't seek re-election in 2010 and surprised fans and critics alike by saying she would leave office on July 26, more than a year before she would have finished her first term as governor.

During a sometimes rambling statement, she cited ongoing ethics complaints and the financial toll they were taking on the state and her personal finances. She also blamed the media for sensational attention and attacks on her family, although she didn't offer details.

Struggling with decision's meaning
Political observers struggled to make sense of the decision and its effect on a potential 2012 campaign for the White House. Even her rival during the last election, Vice President Joe Biden, seemed confused by the move.

"It maybe had a lot to do with what the state of their life was, and the state of their family, et cetera," Biden said. "So I'm not going to second-guess her."

Last year Sen. John McCain plucked Palin from near-obscurity to be his running mate. The folksy governor remains a potent figure in Republican politics, although her resignation could make a potential 2012 campaign even more dicey. If she chooses to run, she'll enter a race with questions about her strategy as well as her experience.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley whose state traditionally hosts the first nominating contest of the presidential campaign, called the move "astounding."

"I would think that if you want to run for president — and I'm not sure that's got anything to do with what she's doing — that the forum of a governorship would be a better forum than just being a private citizen," Grassley said. "I have no insight into why she did it."

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