'Certainly, I Would': Palin Leaves Open Possibility of 2012 Run

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2010— -- Fresh from her appearance as keynote speaker at this weekend's Tea Party convention, Sarah Palin said she would not rule out running for president in 2012.

When asked on "Fox News Sunday" why she wouldn't run for president, the former Alaska governor said, "I would."

"I would. I would if I believed that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family. Certainly, Iwould do so," Palin said.

Palin said "thankfully" there was a lot of time to make a decision, and that she was currently looking at other potential candidates who are strong.

"I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country. I don't know if it's going to be ever seeking a title, though. It may be just doing adarn good job as a reporter or covering some of the current events," said Palin, who recently took a job at Fox as a political analyst.

These remarks came a day after the 45-year-old former governor appeared at the so-called National Tea Party Convention in Nashvillle, Tenn., where she delivered a speech excoriating President Obama.

"Now a year later, I have to ask those supporters of all that how is that hopey changey stuff working out for ya?" she asked the crowd.

While Palin ran as the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008, she warned the group against aligning itself with a leader.

"The Tea Party is not a top-down operation. It's a ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way theyre doing business. And that's beautiful."

She reportedly received $100,000 for speaking at the convention -- a fee she said she would give right back to the movement.

"I'm not getting it," Palin said. "They're writing a check, a $100,000 check. And as I have said from day one on this, I'm turning right around and being able to contribute it back to the cause."Palin riled the crowd at the convention, at times throughout her speech, receiving standing ovations and chants of "Run, Sarah, run," in reference to the 2012 elections.

"I won't close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future. I don't want any American to ever close the door in their personal or their professional lives and put themselves in a boxand say, 'Heck, yeah, I'm going to do that,' or, 'No way, I'm not going to do that,' when we don't know what the future holds," she said on Fox.

Palin confirmed that ever since her political action committee, SarahPAC, was formed, she has been receiving daily e-mail briefings on domestic and foreign policy issues from a group of advisers in Washington.

"It's great. It's helpful," she said, but added that it wasn't part of a plan to run for president.

"I'm just appreciative of having some good information at my fingertips right now," she said.

Palin: I Want to Be a Voice for Commonsense Solutions

Palin was reportedly uninformed about basic policy issues while running as Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate in 2008, according to "Game Change," a recently released, behind-the-scenes book on the election.

"She still didn't really understand why there was a North Korea and a South Korea," one of the book's co-authors, John Heilemann, said on "60 Minutes." She was still regularly saying that Saddam Hussein had been behind 9/11."

But Palin told Fox she was more informed about the issues now.

"Two years ago, my engagement was on the state of Alaska -- largest, most diverse state in the union, 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy coming from our state, while desiring to and working towards ramping up that domestic energy production. That was my focus. Now, of course, my focus is -- has been enlarged. So I sure as heck better be more astute on these current events, national issues, than I was two years ago," she said.

Palin said first and foremost, her focus was on her children.

"I want to be a good mom. And I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country."

But she added, "I do want to be a voice for some commonsense solutions. I'm never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I'm not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I'm going to fight the elitists because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don't get it, and big government's just going to have to take care of us."

But in the meantime, Palin is campaigning for Republican candidates around the country, such as for Gov. Rick Perry in Texas and Senate-candidate Rand Paul in Kentucky.

"I have want to speak up for the American people and say, "No, we really do have some good commonsense solutions." I can be a messenger for that. Don't have to have a title to do it."

ABC News' Rachel Martin contributed to this report.