Palin hints she's in politics for good, eyeing 2012

WASHINGTON: Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hinted in an interview with ABC News to be broadcast Thursday that she will remain a key player in US politics regardless of who gets elected president next week, and may even run in the 2012 election.

A transcript of the interview was made public late Wednesday.

"I'm not doing this for naught," Palin said, when asked if all the mudslinging in the current campaign made her long for a return to the politics of Alaska, where she is governor.

"I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that would bring this whole" endeavor to nothing, she said.

Palin's comments followed reports that she was breaking free of campaign restrictions and doing more self-promotion, as she sees her White House chances dwindle along with those of her running mate John McCain.

Nevertheless the 44-year-old mother of five told ABC News she was confident the McCain-Palin ticket would defeat Democrats Barack Obama and Joseph Biden in the November 4 vote.

I'm "thinking that it's going to go our way on Tuesday," Palin said. "I truly believe that the wisdom of the people will be revealed on that day."

Regarding charges by her and the campaign that Obama was unpatriotic, especially in view of his contacts with 1960s radical Bill Ayers, Palin did some backtracking.

"(I'm) not calling him un-American," Palin said.

"There is nothing wrong, though, with calling someone out on their record, their associations and the association issue here. It's not mean spirited. It's not negative campaigning. It's important and fair to the electorate," she said.