I think she wanted to run, planned to run, and was looking for a way to make a run. Somewhere along the way in the past two months, she began to realize that it was looking less and less likely that she could pull it off - for whatever reasons, political and/or personal. But she still had time to declare and kept looking for a way to make it work.
That's what the bus tour, film, videos, speeches, and appearances were all about. That's why she "was tired of" giving "the same dopey answer" when asked about a run. She wanted to run and did everything she could to keep herself in the political arena while trying to work out the details. But ultimately she couldn't make it work and was facing a rapidly approaching deadline. So she had to accept a reality that she didn't like.
I don't believe she intentionally mislead or teased her supporters and I don't believe it was about the money. I believe she has a servant's heart. She likes to encourage and empower others. And because she prayerfully considers her decisions, I believe God made it clear through circumstance that encouraging and empowering is where he wanted to use her.
Of all the posts I've read about THE decision, yours is the one that "resonates" (I really hate to use that word) with me.
I also wonder if part of what created the reality she didn't like was the "Undefeated's" lack of acceptance. It seems to me that around that time Sarah made a statement asking 'we the people' to let her know how much we would support her. Perhaps the numbers just didn't add up. There are millions who supported her, but she needed 10's of millions to be successful. I wonder what the sales numbers of the DVD are.
I don’t know about personal reasons, but the political landscape we’ve seen develop the past couple of weeks was as favorable towards her running as it could have been.