Sarah Palin has opted against a White House bid in 2012. Palin won't run

Sarah Palin pledged to stay an active part of the political discussion as she announced she wouldn’t be making a 2012 White House run.

On Greta Van Susteren’s Fox News show Wednesday night, Palin told supporters that she’s sorry if they are disappointed that she passed on the race.


“I apologize to those who are disappointed in this decision,” she said. “I’ve been hearing from them in the last couple of hours but I believe that they, when they take a step back, will understand why the decision was made and understand that, really, you don’t need a title to make a difference in this country. I think that I’m proof of that.”

Palin told Van Susteren that her husband, Todd Palin, heard from some of the GOP presidential candidates since making her announcement at 6 p.m. She did not identify which ones.

Palin added that she considered the thought that, by not running in 2012, she may forfeit any future chance to do so.

“I would go back and forth about whether now is the time, and if I say no to the opportunity that’s in front of me, be it running for office now, politically speaking will I die? Will I be ineffective?” she said. “After making the decision today, and making the announcement, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt after great confirmation today too, Greta, personally speaking, I know that it’s the right decision and I know that I can join others and be effective in helping change what’s going on in our country and helping wake up Americans to what is going on in our country.”

The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee first announced the news to conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin and in a letter to supporters Wednesday evening.

“I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States,” she wrote. “As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.”

Asked if she will support the GOP nominee, Palin told Levin: “I have confidence in that. I look forward to supporting our nominee. … The right candidate will be elevated that will be our nominee. We’ll be able to get behind that person and make sure that Barack Obama is replaced.”

Though the timing of Palin’s announcement was a surprise, GOP operatives have long expected her to pass on a 2012 race. She did not build an infrastructure that could have been used as the foundation for a campaign, her political action committee did little to build a staff and she remained on the Fox News payroll as a contributor while 2012 candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich saw their contracts terminated.

Palin had repeatedly dangled the possibility of running in interviews in recent months while sounding off about the candidates in the race and appearing in person at several key moments. She brought the first leg of her One Nation bus tour to a close in New Hampshire just after Mitt Romney announced his candidacy there in June, and she started a second leg of the tour in Iowa the day before the Ames Straw Poll.

But while she still can draw large crowds and claim six-figure speaking fees, a Palin run for the presidency would have had significant roadblocks — in addition to the lack of structural preparation for a campaign, a poll released Tuesday found two-thirds of Republicans didn’t want her to run.

Her political action committee, SarahPAC, reported $1.402 million cash on hand in July, the latest records that are available. The report showed that while she spent a considerable sum — $673,000 — raising money, she did little to bolster a staff, instead paying her parents for jobs listed as “correspondence and card mailing.”

Were she to have entered the race, Palin would have faced a battle for social conservative and tea party voters in Iowa and South Carolina against candidates like Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum, who are appealing to the same part of the electorate that would have made up a Palin base. Not to mention the fact that so many GOP operatives are already moved on without waiting for her.

“She would have had a good welcome had she come here,” South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly said Wednesday. “But she would have had trouble finding people on the ground who would have been the most help to her. They’re just all committed somewhere.”

Since she vaulted to international fame after Sen. John McCain picked her as his running mate, Palin has been the the most visible Republican politician in the country. She resigned as Alaska governor in July 2009 and took to the lucrative speakers’ circuit, commanding up to $100,000 per appearance. Palin also starred in a reality show about her family on TLC, and her family has gone onto fame as well, including her daughter Bristol’s stint on “Dancing with the Stars.”

In the 2010 midterms, she endorsed a series of candidates in the GOP primaries and, again, in the general election that resulted in a Republican wave. While she appeared at a series of campaign and tea party rallies across the country, she also proved capable of changing the course of campaigns with a Facebook note or a tweet in support of a candidate. Among the highest-profile of these was South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who surged in a GOP primary after Palin backed her.

And Palin made clear with her announcement about the presidential decision that she had no intention of going away.

To Levin, Palin repeated her contention — widely viewed as telegraphing Wednesday’s decision — that she can have a larger influence on the country out of office than she could in office, or as a candidate.

“The consideration was given to what role can I play best to help pursue this mission and succeed in this mission of defending our republic,” she said. “I believe not being a candidate really you’re unshackled and you’re allowed to be really more active. I look forward to coordinating the strategies that will assist in replacing our president.”

Palin added that her decision was colored by “the protection of kids and their innocence and their security. Much went into the decision that is based upon family and what is best for them. Family does come first.”

To her SarahPAC supporters email list, Palin wrote: “I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.”

While she offered no specifics about what that entails, she added: “In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.”

Palin’s announcement, made a day after Chris Christie held firm to his “no” on running in 2012, solidifies the incredibly slow-forming GOP contest in a race that polls show as a Romney-Perry slugfest, with Herman Cain surging despite a lack of staff, money and infrastructure.

Perry, like to be the largest beneficiary of Palin’s absence from the race, quickly issued a statement praising Palin.

“Sarah Palin is a good friend, a great American and a true patriot,” he said. “I respect her decision and know she will continue to be a strong voice for conservative values and needed change in Washington.”

And Sen. John McCain, who catapulted Palin into the national spotlight when he plucked her from Alaska to be his 2008 running mate, tweeted: “Sarah announces she’s not running for president — I am confident she’ll continue to play an important role in our Party and for our nation.”

There remains chatter that she could run as an independent hopeful, a possibility that would let her continue to stoke speculation about her future heading into the spring and keep her relevant in the conversation.

Palin did not explicitly rule out a third-party run for the White House during her interview with Levin, though she said, “I would assume that a third party would guarantee” President Barack Obama’s re-election.

However, Palin was the last hope for Romney that a candidate would ding Perry from the right and shave off some of his support. Without that, and with Perry armed with a hefty war chest, Romney is going to have to move fast to solidify support.

Palin is scheduled to speak Saturday at a Christian women’s conference at Liberty University in Virginia and then is appearing at a business conference on Monday in South Korea.

Juana Summers and Maggie Haberman contributed to this report.