WASHINGTON: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she would consider a run for president in 2012 if the situation was right for her family and the nation.
In an interview recorded Saturday and broadcast on television on Sunday," Palin said she would run "if I believed that; that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family."
"I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country," Palin said, later adding: "I won't close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future."
The interview was recorded before her keynote address Saturday night at what was billed the first national Tea Party convention.
Palin, who had little national profile before running unsuccessfully for vice president on Sen. John McCain's Republican ticket in 2008, remains a leading GOP draw and an unofficial symbol of the Tea Party movement of conservative discontent with government.
Palin takes aim at Dems The convention, which concluded with a dinner and Palin speech that cost more than $500 per ticket, was intended to begin transforming the Tea Party movement into a political force capable of influencing elections, organizers said.
"It's so inspiring to see real people -- not politicos, inside-the-beltway professionals -- come out, stand up and speak out for common sense conservative principles," Palin said in her speech to a crowd that gave her repeated standing ovations.
Calling the Tea Party movement a "ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way they're doing business," Palin said "America is ready for another revolution and you are a part of this."
In the interview with Fox, Palin said she believed President Obama would lose a re-election bid in 2012 if he fails to change the policies followed so far in just over a year in office.
If Obama "continues on the path that he has America on today," Palin said, "he's not going to win."
"That's what a lot of Americans are telling him today, and he's not listening,"
"Instead, he's telling everybody else, 'Listen up and I'll tell you the way it is.' Well, we have a representative form of government in our democracy. And we want him and we want Congress to listen to what the things are that we are saying."
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