The holiday has come and the resignation of a controversial governor has been announced, but it’s not Sanford. It’s Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Here’s the opening of her official statement:

Governor Sarah Palin announced today that she will not seek a second term as Governor of the State of Alaska and will relegate the power of governor to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell in order to serve Alaska’s best interests. Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will move into Parnell’s current role.

“People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing’s more important to me than our beloved Alaska,” said Governor Palin. “Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.”

…“I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement. “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success. I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

Conventional wisdom is she’s leaving office in order to work full time preparing to run for president in 2012, but Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has been doing some digging and says Palin’s motivation appears to be a “colossal sulk,” and a desire to paint herself as a victim of the liberal media:

3:52 PM … So what happened exactly? As I just mentioned in our editorial chat, this clearly happened so quickly that Palin hasn’t even had a chance to come up with a coherent cover story for her resignation. Some context is probably helpful here, however. Remember that based on the public record, Palin is a wildly unethical public official, guilty at a minimum of numerous instances of abusing her authority as governor…

4:06 PM … Wow. It just gets better and better. Apparently one of Palin’s rationale’s for resigning is that she would not stand by while so many taxpayer dollars were being spent investigating her

Over to you, Gov. Sanford.

Update: On MSNBC just now, Alaska-based reporter Shannyn Moore just told David Schuster that rumors have been circulating in the state for weeks that Palin or someone close to her would be facing criminal charges. Moore, a long-time Palin observer, said it would be out of character for Palin to give up the governorship voluntarily this way, so maybe there is something to the rumors.

• 89% of American adults agree that “we are all endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” while 7% disagree
• 74% agree that “all men are created equal” while 23% disagree
• 56% agree that governments derive their only just authority from the “consent of the governed” while 25% disagree

So more people think we have God-given rights to live and pursue our goals than think we all have that right equally? And only a little more than half of us think the government’s authority should come from us? Has America become the land of scary loonies?

I knew Stewart would have a field day with the Sanford tragedy but this exceeds expectations.

— Senator-elect Al Franken (D-MN), quoted by Minnesota Public Radio, on lessons he can learn from Hillary Clinton.

— former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), finally doing the right thing and conceding the 2008 Senate race.

— President Obama, quoted by the Washington Post, showing House Democrats a portrait of Abraham Lincoln before their vote on the climate-change bill.

HT to FishbowlNY

— Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), quoted in The Hill, when asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night after passage of a landmark climate-change bill.

— Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R), quoted on CBS’s Face the Nation, saying that sex scandals are not the biggest problem for the Republican party.

This is another step in how we’re going to open a dialogue with the African-American community …
— Jim Greer

Black-owned media tell GOP that money talks
By Mark Schlueb, Orlando Sentinel
Florida Republican leaders are trying to capture ground they’ve historically ceded to the Democratic Party — the black news media.

Friday, managers of black-owned newspapers and radio outlets told Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer there’s a simple way to get more attention for conservative issues and candidates: money.

“At the end of the day, it’s about money. If you buy advertising, you’re more likely to get coverage,” said Johnny Hunter, president of the Florida Association of Black Owned Media and publisher of Sarasota’s Tempo News.

Greer invited black-media news executives from across the state to a downtown Orlando hotel to hash out how the party can make inroads in the black community, which traditionally votes Democratic.

It was the most recent attempt by Greer to reach out to black opinion-makers since he took over as leader of the state party. Last year, the party created the African American Republican Leadership Council, a group led by state Rep. Jennifer Carroll of Fleming Island. A few months later, he and Carroll met with members of the black clergy.

At Friday’s meeting, the conversation seemed designed to reach a “pay to play” arrangement. In opening remarks, Carroll, who helped lead the discussion, told members of the black media that they can benefit as much as the GOP from increased coverage.

“You’re in business to make money, and you should look at avenues to increase your revenue if you can,” she said.

Most mainstream news outlets maintain a strict separation between advertising and editorial content.

All of the media representatives seemed to push for more advertising and agreed that the Republican Party and its candidates would receive more coverage if they bought ads.

They did not all agree about whether advertising would lead to positive news stories or endorsements, though some hinted that failing to buy advertising could bring negative editorials.

For black-owned media, advertising is simply a tangible example of respect, which some managers said the Republican Party has not shown the black community. Several said they are never contacted by the GOP about issues and political races.

Kevin Collins of The Orlando Times said Republican candidates rarely bother responding when the paper’s reporters try to contact them, even during election season.

“We’re a news outlet, and Republican candidates won’t return our calls,” Collins said. “It gives us the mind-set that we’re not important.”

Greer promised that the party would stop ignoring black media. He said that mainstream newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Tribune and Tallahassee Democrat cover the party’s issues regardless of whether they advertise, but the party chairman nevertheless seemed willing to accept the quid-pro-quo arrangement.

“When I hear that when we advertise, the paper will be more likely to disseminate Republican issues, am I hearing right?” Greer asked. “I don’t understand the legitimacy of disseminating information and having a tie-in to revenue — but I get it.”

Florida Republicans have stumbled in attracting blacks in the past. Last year, Florida’s 225-member delegation to the Republican National Convention included only six blacks. The party’s apparent choice for governor, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, was the only member of the Cabinet to vote against restoring felons’ rights, an issue of particular importance to the black community. And, as a columnist for the South Florida Times told Greer, the party has failed to ease immigration for Haitians who make it to Florida’s shores.

Even so, Greer said the party’s efforts to reach out to black voters is serious, though some GOP leaders told him it’s a wasted effort.

“This is another step in how we’re going to open a dialogue with the African-American community across the state,” Greer said.

Tell me, if you were Jim Greer would you have put that in a press release and sent it out to your distribution list?