Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Palin's announcement that she would not seek a second term - and would leave office before finishing her first - simply did not make sense in a conventional political setting. Karl Rove, a longtime Bush counselor, said Palin had engaged in a "risky strategy."

Then again, the pair said, Palin has never been a conventional candidate, and her stunning announcement Friday was what they have come to expect from the Republicans' 2008 vice presidential candidate. "She marches to the beat of her own drum," Rove said, "and it's going to be very interesting to see how she pulls this off."

Palin announced she would not seek reelection in 2010 and surprised fans and critics alike by saying she would leave office July 26, more than a year before she would have finished her first term as governor.

During a sometimes-rambling statement, she cited ongoing ethics complaints and the financial toll they were taking on the state and her personal finances. She also blamed the media for sensational attention and attacks on her family.

Palin, former running mate of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), said last month that more than 15 ethics complaints had been dismissed and that she has said defending against them cost more than $500,000 in legal bills.

Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell said yesterday on Fox News Sunday that "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."

Palin's attorney denied in a statement yesterday what he called "false and defamatory" claims that have appeared on blogs and other sources that she was resigning because she was under criminal investigation related to the construction of a sports complex in her hometown of Wasilla. "We are not aware of any 'federal investigation' that has been 'pending' for the last seven years," Thomas Van Flein wrote.

Huckabee, who ran for president in 2008 and could try again, said on Fox News Sunday that he remained a Palin fan and insisted that she continues to be a viable candidate. But she also should be prepared to explain the curious move. "Well, it's a risky strategy, and nobody knows whether it's going to pay off or not," Huckabee said. "And even if she did get out primarily because of a feeling of being chased, that's not going to stop if she continues in politics. The only way that stops is for her to completely exit the stage and the spotlight."

Besides, Rove said, Palin will not be able to escape the media's attention. "If she thinks somehow that she's going to be able to protect her family against the kind of things that she's suffered over the last couple of months, from David Letterman and others, and seek a role of leadership for effective change for our country, as she said in her speech, she's not going to be able to do it," Rove said.

Palin recently had a public spat with Late Show host Letterman over a joke he made about one of her daughters.