Palin won't 'close doors' on Political future

Defeated Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she would not "close any doors" amid speculation she could be prepping for a 2012 White House bid.

The conservative Alaska governor, who is scheduled to address the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association Thursday, also said she is looking forward to the administration of president-elect Barack Obama.

"I feel very optimistic," she told AFP in Miami. "This is an historic moment for the country, Americans will be all together, Democrats and Republicans, working behind the new president and looking for progress," she said.

However, she remained vague about her own political aspirations when asked in a CNN interview if she had designs on becoming president in four years.

"Not ruling that out but there again, that is based on my philosophy that it's crazy to close a door before you know what's even open in front of you," said Palin, who along with Republican John McCain lost the November 4 election to Obama.

Asked if she could serve as a US senator in the event that incumbent Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens is unseated for corruption charges, Palin demurred to the state's citizens and said she would not appoint herself to his post.

"I suppose if you were that egotistical and arrogant you'd name yourself but I'm not one to name myself," she said.

Stevens, 84, was convicted last month of seven felony counts related to 250,000 dollars worth of gifts he accepted. He ran for his seat anyway in November's election and while votes are still being counted he is ahead, though he could be removed by a two-thirds vote of fellow senators.

"I just don't want to close any doors at this point. Very, very happy, privileged, blessed to serve as governor, want to continue to do that but I'm not going to close a door in the future here."

Turning to the war in Iraq, Palin said she had "faith in this new administration that they are going to look out for America's finest, those in uniform, who are protecting us and our freedoms," with her teenage son Track among the US soldiers serving in Iraq.

"We've got to make sure there too that Barack Obama surrounds himself with strong commanders who understand that our boys, our girls, with their boots on the ground -- their lives, my son's life, is in his hands."

The 44-year-old mother of five joked at the start of the interview that she was a "has-been," and also sent a "shout-out" to President George W. Bush for "keeping our country safe for the last seven years with no new attack on the homeland.

"You know, I want to do a shout out to our president and thank him for that," she said, backing away from harsher words she used in other post-election interviews in which she candidly assessed the party's defeat and laid much of the blame on the current administration.

"You know I think that there is so much blame to go around, if you will, in terms of why it was that the Republican ticket did not win," she said on CNN.

"We didn't get the Hispanic vote, that really hurt; we were outspent tremendously because of course Obama took the private financing," she said, adding that "Barack Obama was a great campaigner, he had a very strong organization."

In an earlier interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Palin said the "Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads, like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a 10 trillion dollar debt in a Republican administration?"

Since Obama's White House victory, Palin has been a near constant presence in the media, fielding nearly as many interviews in the last week as she granted during her entire run on the Republican presidential ticket.

In addition to Palin's address to the Republican Governors Association on "Looking Toward the Future" Thursday, she will also hold a press conference and conduct several national television interviews.

The Miami conference comes as Republicans are seeking a party leader to help them rise from the ashes of a Democrat drubbing at the polls, which lost them seats in the House of Representatives and Senate along with the White House.

Alongside Palin, the meeting will see other young Republican stars: Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Governor Charlie Crist of Florida.