Sarah Palin: I Want to Play a Major Role in National Politics, 'If People Will Have Me'

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin anounces that she is stepping down as governor of Alaska at her Lake Lucille home last July. Now she's out promoting her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

(Robert DeBerry/Frontiersman/AP Photo)

Sarah Palin for 2012?

There's a battle raging for control of the Republican Party between moderates and conservatives like Palin, who has vowed to support like-minded candidates. But some fear that by dividing the party, she will destroy it, and certainly won't help her chances if she decides to make a run in 2012.

The former governor wouldn't directly address the burning question of whether she wants to be the president, but she did not completely close that door either.

"That certainly isn't on my radar screen right now," said Palin. "[But] when you consider some of the ordinary turning into extraordinary events that have happened in my life, I am not one to predict what will happen in a few years."

"My ambition if you will, my desire, is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors would be open in the year 2012," she said.

As for whether she will play a major role, Palin replied, "If people will have me, I will."

Her daughters certainly think their mom will make a good president. When asked if they would like to see her as president one day, 15-year-old Willow replied: "That'd be cool," a sentiment echoed by her younger sister, Piper, 8.

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And as Palin wrote, her father summed it up best when he said his daughter is "not retreating. She's reloading."

Palin defended her decision to quit as Alaska's governor, saying it was best for her state.

"I was heading into a lame duck session, that final year in office, and most normal politicians, what they do, knowing that they're not going to run again, they're in that lame duck ... that, that situation, they milk it. They collect the paycheck. My administration was inundated, and paralyzed by those who were filing these frivolous lawsuits, and, and, um, ethics violation charges. And it was unfair to Alaskans. So I knew that what we were doing was right," Palin said.

Palin has taken heat even from within her own party.

In October, McCain's chief campaign strategist Steve Schmidt said Palin "would not be a winning candidate for the Republican party in 2012," adding, "Were she to be the nominee, we could have a catastrophic election result."

Palin told Walters she is not surprised at the comment.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion," Palin said. "I know [the] truth, and I'm fine with who I am and where I am."