What's up Sarah Palin?

What is up with Sarah Palin announcing not only that she won't run for a second term as governor of Alaska, but also announcing that she is stepping down in three weeks? I've gone back and forth on Sarah Palin since she was announced as John McCain's running mate ten months agao. I remember watching her speech at the Republican National Convention and thinking, wow, we've got a winner here. The speech was truly awesome. Things went downhill after that for her. I blame most of that on McCain's campaign team, which at times appears it wanted to lose, constantly mismanage her and put her in situations she didn't need to be put in. After the election I wondered if she might have what it takes to run in 2012. At the time I really wanted her to run again but thought she probably was too far to the right to get the nomination. The past few months have been odd to say the least. She has become a polarizing face in politics, but isn't anyone who is anyone in politics now polarizing? People love her or hate her. That is clearly shown by her approval rating now being at 45% in Alaska which before she was announced as a vice presidential candidate was at 73%. Has she really changed her politics that much or do people just now see her differently after the election? She's been the focus of 15 ethics violations since the election. Most of the time I lean on the side of where there's smoke there's fire but since all 15 have been cleared I'm beginning to think it's just a witch hunt. She stated in her "resignation" speech that her and her husband had $500,000 in legal fees as a result of all the investigations. That would be hard to pay off with her salary of either $125,000 or $160,000 depending on who you believe. Either way it's hard to pay off that amount. I would also imagine after her and her family being smeared by the media during the election and since then maybe she just wants away from it all. Some sources report she's out of politics for good. If that's the case I respect her decision but at the same time am sad because even though I'm not sure she would have been my pick for the Republican nomination in 2012 she would have added a lot to the debate. If she does want to run in 2012 I'm curious as to her roadmap from here. My pick, by pick I mean I who I think will be on the ticket not necessarily my choice, for 2012 is Rommney if we are still in an economic crisis and if we're not still in the crisis Eric Cantor is my pick. I'm probably way off, but we'll start hearing about it before too long:)