Palin faces questions as she exits Alaska’s stage

updated 2:50 p.m. ET July 25, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin gained fame — and to some infamy — since she embarked on a vice-presidential bid less than a year ago.

Her surprising departure from Alaska's top office is gaining her something else: questions over her motives and next big move.

She leaves office Sunday with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity. A new Washington Post-ABC poll puts her favorability rating at 40 percent, with 53 percent giving her an unfavorable rating.

The Republican governor also faces an array of queries about why she is quitting more than year before her term ends and what she plans to do after she steps down.

Palin has said little about any major moves, but has hinted that she has a bigger role in mind. She is scheduled to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, and has said she plans to write a book, campaign for political candidates from coast to coast and build a right-of-center coalition.

Above all, Palin plans to continue speaking her mind on the social networking site Twitter.

"Ain't gonna shut my mouth / I know there's got to be a few hundred million more like me / just trying to keep it free," Palin said in a recent Tweet, quoting the song "Rollin'," by the country duo Big & Rich.

Such folksy offerings endear Palin to millions of fans, including more than 100,000 who follow her on Twitter. But are they enough to launch a political movement?

Political scientist Jerry McBeath said the answer isn't clear.

"In the context of 305 million Americans, 100,000 is not a lot of followers," he said.

'Continuous national presence'
McBeath, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said Palin "needs to do something beyond tweeting — or twittering, whatever it is — to establish a continuous national presence."

A more conventional politician would write a syndicated column or host a radio or TV show, McBeath said, but added: "I don't know if Sarah Palin wants that."

"I think she believes she has something to say that is of value to voters who share her views and believes that part of her calling is to continue" speaking out on Twitter, he said.

Spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton disputed the notion that Palin is running for president or has media deals lined up.

"I cannot express enough there is no plan after July 26. There is absolutely no plan," she told The Associated Press earlier this month. "The decision (to quit) was made in the vacuum of what was best for Alaska, and now I'm accepting all the options, but there is nothing planned," Stapleton said.

Palin's biggest legacy may be putting Alaska on the national stage, said Larry Persily, a former journalist and Palin staffer who now works for a Republican state legislator.

"Before if you played a word game and someone said Alaska, you might say oil or even whales," he said. "Now you say Alaska: 'Palin.'"

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