Just one week after her husband Todd Palin "went rogue" and endorsed Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said tonight she would vote for Gingrich "if I were a South Carolinian" - the closest she has come to an endorsement in this race.

Palin said tonight on "Sean Hannity" that she wants to see the race continue because "iron sharpens iron, steel sharpens steel."

"These guys are getting better in their debates, they are getting more concise, they're getting more grounded in what their beliefs are and articulating what their ideas are to getting the country back on the right track and getting Americans working again," Palin said.

Hannity asked Palin if she was any closer to an endorsement of a presidential candidate.

"Well, I could tell you what I would do if I were a South Carolinian," Palin told Hannity.

"That's close to an endorsement," Hannity said.

"If I had to vote in South Carolina, in order to keep this thing going I'd vote for Newt and I would want this to continue," Palin said. "More debates, more vetting of candidates because we know the mistake made in our country four years ago was having a candidate that was not vetted, to the degree that he should have been so that we knew what his associations and his pals represented and what went into his thinking, the shaping of who our president today is."

The Gingrich campaign could not be reached for comment, but Gingrich's twitter handle @NewtGingrich tweeted "Thanks @SarahPalinusa for throwing your support my way in the South Carolina primary."