The obsession with this is really. Being elected isn't like enlisting in the military. People quit jobs all the time for personal reasons, or to pursue better jobs. Obama did it himself when he left the Senate after only 2 years on the job, and 2 years campaigning. There was no breathless, wide eyed panic at him abandoning his Senate post with 2 years left unserved to the fine people of Illinois. Yet people are acting like she quit being a doctor halfway through surgery, and left some guy on the table.
Why not serve till 2010 and THEN announce that she's not running for a second term ? That would have been the better course of action if she were truly exploring a run for the presidency...
1. Why spend 2 more years doing a job that America knows you're good at? She could spend 20 more years as governor. Who would care?
2. She can raise untold millions for the GOP in the next 2 years, and stump for GOP candidates all over the country. Help the party perform well in 2010, and you've got the rank and file party regulars on your side. Right now, Palin is an outsider. A popular outsider, but she's not tied in with the rest of the GOP. She can't ever be as Governor of Alaska. As a freelance conservative rockstar, she can spend years getting the GOP back on its feet, with her to thank for it.
3. Alaska doesn't need a rockstar governor. They need a level headed guy who isn't tied down all day with national level drama. She's doing the state a favor by taking their politics out of the national spotlight.
OR, she could do another 2 years, and finish out her term tired, poor, harassed, and not tangibly improved as a candidate against a wealthy, popular and incumbent President.
*The obsession with her leaving a government job early is really a bit overblown.