Sarah Palin explains decision not to run for president

The other shoe, this one a stiletto, has dropped.

One day after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he would not vie for the Republican presidential nomination, perhaps the only other Republican with the power to shake up the field announced that she would not run either.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 47, released a letter to supporters Wednesday telling them that “after much prayer and serious consideration,” she had decided not to seek the GOP nomination for 2012. The letter, first posted by ABC News on its website, was later emailed to reporters.

“As always,” she wrote, “my family comes first.”

Palin will continue be involved in politics, however, and vowed to flex her muscle as avatar for the tea party wing of her party. The group’s successes in the 2010 midterm election, she wrote, played a part in her determination not to run.

“My decision is based upon a review of what common-sense conservatives and independents have accomplished, especially over the last year,” Palin wrote. “I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office.”

Thus ends a guessing game that began when she returned to Alaska after her defeat as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate in 2008.

After stepping down as governor in July 2009, Palin carved out a successful career as a Fox News commentator, author, public speaker and reality television star.

Over the last five months, Palin seemed to delight in keeping the media and her supporters in the dark. Many speculated that she was behaving like a candidate — launching a “One Nation” bus tour to historic East Coast sites, then stealing a bit of the GOP candidates’ thunder by showing up at the Iowa State Fair the day before the Ames straw poll in August.

Had she decided to run, she would have faced formidable obstacles, and not just logistical ones such as fundraising and organizing in the early states. Her reputation has not fully recovered from her quitting as governor. And she continues to be a divisive figure, still mocked as an intellectual lightweight in some popular culture circles. Recent polls even indicated that most of her fellow Republicans did not think she should run for president.

While Christie held a freewheeling news conference that went on for nearly an hour, Palin quietly released her letter. On Wednesday afternoon, conservative talk show host Mark Levin, who had appeared in a favorable documentary about her called “The Undefeated,” read her letter on the air, then interviewed Palin.

She told Levin she knew “beyond a shadow of a doubt” she’d made the right decision, and vowed to join “in the mission to wake up this country.”

“I can be more effective and aggressive in a supportive role … calling out the wrongheadedness of our leaders leading us down this path,” she added.

She told Levin she would not consider running as an independent. “I would assume that a third party would just guarantee Obama’s reelection,” she said.

Although she never began a formal exploration, some ardent supporters took it upon themselves to begin organizing for her. California lawyer Peter Singleton moved to Iowa, where he crisscrossed the state independently, compiling a database of potential supporters.

“As you well know, I expected her to run,” Singleton said. “I think she was the best candidate, but it’s her decision. My respect for her is undiminished.”

Likewise, Doug Adams, who founded the website Iowans4Palin, was disappointed when he heard the news.

“I am just bummed out,” he said. “I think probably all the attacks on her family have taken a toll. She’s just taken so many arrows, I really can’t blame her.”

Palin had kind words for supporters.

“From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for president,” she wrote. “Know that by working together we can bring this country back — and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.”

With Palin and Christie no longer potential rivals, the declared candidates now know whom they are running against, and Republican voters have a clear sense of their choices.

“Now party activists, not just in Iowa, but all over the country, can really begin to focus in on the candidates and begin to make their decisions,” said Iowa Republican strategist Robert Haus, who is directing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Iowa operation. “It lets people see who will be the best challenger to Mitt Romney.”

Palin said she wasn’t going anywhere.

“In the coming weeks,” she wrote, “I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the president, retaking the Senate and maintaining the House.”

robin.abcarian@latimes.com