During an appearance on Fox News' "On the Record" on Thursday night, Sarah Palin insisted she has "fire in the belly" when pressed on whether she plans to run for president in the next election cycle.
The former Alaska governor was asked if she really wants the Republican presidential nomination in the wake of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's announcement that he will not launch a campaign for the White House in 2012. “All the factors say go, but my heart says no and that’s the decision I have made,” he said last week in explaining his decision.
"I think my problem is that I do have the fire in my belly," explained Palin of her own posture toward running 2012. "I am so adamantly supportive of the good, traditional things about America and our free enterprise system, and I want to make sure that America is put back on the right track, and we only do that by defeating Obama in 2012. I have that fire in my belly."
Addressing where she is in her decision-making process, Palin added, "It's a matter for me of some kind of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made. One is, with a large family, understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children's part in order to see their mama run for president. But yes, the fire in the belly? It's there!"
The potential presidential contender said she hopes that candidates will be scrutinized for their records over the course of the campaign and not "little petty stupid things."
After criticizing the media for the capacity in which her name has landed in the headlines, Palin said, "Hammer away at our records and our intentions and what our view for America is. Lay off the petty stuff."
During an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" earlier this week, Palin said that she's not prepared "to make an announcement" on whether she plans to run in 2012, but that she's "seriously considering it, and praying about it."
"Because of course it is a monumental leap for a family to put themselves out there again in the limelight and be ready for the scrutiny that ensues in a campaign," she explained. "So, still talking about it, and assessing, yes, the field, looking for others who are ready to go rogue and fight against the machine on both sides of the aisle in order to get the economy back on the right track and do the things that the private sector needs done to implement some solutions to all the problems that America is facing right now."
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