Sarah Palin’s announcement of her resignation as Alaska’s governor was a bit of a shocker. John Hawkins of Right Wing News proposed five possible reasons for the move:

1) She may intend to run for President in 2012 and feels like it’s to her advantage to resign now. It will mean no more phony ethics complaints. She’ll be able to raise money and campaign for Republican candidates without having it used against her as governor as well. On the downside, it would hurt her in her weakest area: experience. Some people may perceive it as being flaky and emotional as well, which is something a female politician needs to work especially hard to avoid.

2) There may be some big scandal that’s about to come down the pike. That’s a pretty standard reason for resignations of this sort. What it would be, I have no idea at this point.

3) She, or perhaps Todd, could have a big health issue.

4) Maybe the Left finally wore her down and she just decided politics wasn’t worth it anymore. I’ve seen it happen to other conservative women who’ve endured far less abuse than Sarah Palin and her family have so far. Indeed, it’s part of the Left’s strategy with conservative women. They try to make politics so ugly, so nasty, so personal, and so vicious that conservative women just quit.
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5) She could be pregnant again.

Option #1 is not credible: Sarah Palin has ended her political career with this resignation. (Thank goodness!) Option #4 isn’t so likely either at this late date, not without some additional pressure. So I’m betting on Options #2, #3, or #5. My money is on #5. Or perhaps another of her children is in some kind of un-Christian trouble. If Palin herself is pregnant, my only comment is somewhat general: career women really ought to figure out how to use birth control.