Lawmakers complained that she didn't take an interest in the state's politics, and that she limited her access to Alaska's media. One lawmaker quipped after her state of the state address in January that the only person in the legislative chamber she made eye contact with was the television camera.

In Alaska, Palin has become a polarizing figure, and the focus of multiple ethics complaints filed against her with the state personnel board. She has taken a beating from Senate Democrats over many of her recent appointments, including an attorney-general candidate who became the first Cabinet appointment ever rejected by the Alaska Legislature.

And things weren't likely to improve if she stayed in office. She faces a veto override of nearly $29 million in federal stimulus funds for energy-efficiency programs. She rejected the funds, fearing strings attached to the money that could bind the state to federal building mandates. Legislators said that they could find no such strings.

It's easy to govern in Alaska when oil prices are high, but they are down from last year's historic highs and the budget is much tighter.

In announcing Friday that she was stepping down as governor, Palin said that it was about doing the right thing for Alaska - not wanting to be a lame-duck governor if she knew she wasn't running for re-election in 2010. In a later posting on the Facebook social networking site, she also has hinted that she is gearing up for a run for president.

But with all the thorny issues enveloping her in Alaska, Palin's quitting may be more about something simpler: cutting her losses.

"The drumbeat of adverse news coverage from Alaska would likely have continued and intensified had she remained governor," said Juneau economist and longtime Alaska political watcher Gregg Erickson. "It would have become an increasing liability to her national campaign."

"She had a surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November," said state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage. "This state has a lot of problems, and she showed a complete lack of interest in solving them."

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn into office July 26, said that Palin had spoken to him about the toll that the probes had taken on her.

"I think what I heard from the governor really had to do with the weight on her, the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like, the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska's agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment. So that's what I saw," he told Fox News Sunday.

Also, in recent months, Palin had laid the groundwork for a possible presidential run, establishing a political action committee.

And a day after abruptly announcing that she would soon give up her job as governor, Palin on Saturday indicated on Facebook that she would take on a larger, national role, citing a "higher calling" to unite the country along conservative lines. *