Palin says she's not '12 GOP frontrunner

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) on Sunday denied that she was the Republican Party's leading candidate in the 2012 presidential race.

In her first Sunday morning talk show interview, which aired the morning after her keynote address at the National Tea Party convention, Palin continued to leave the door open to a presidential bid when President Barack Obama's first term expires in three years.

Asked by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace if the results of a recent poll showing her as the leading candidate among Republicans means that she is the frontrunner, Palin said "Nope, don't know who conducted that poll...Polls are fickle."

But she added that she thinks "it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to serve our country."

Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) running mate in 2008 has been bandied about as a Republican presidential hopeful for her appeal to the party's conservative grass-roots. 

Palin, who now works as a Fox News analyst, has been coy about her presidential ambitions ever since she resigned as governor of Alaska last summer. Some say that her resignation could hurt a potential bid because voters may think she abandons tough challenges.

But Palin defended her decision to step down, denying that her opponents forced her out of office.

"Hell no," she said of the suggestion. "Thankfully I didn't. What we did was we won."

Palin left office in July 2009 in the midst of ethics investigations into her administration.

The ex-governor reiterated that she left office in part to not burden the state with the probes.

"We picked our battle," she said. "We're gonna fight for these issues on a different plane." 

When pressed by Wallace, who suggested that Ronald Reagan would not have resigned when he was California's governor amid heavy criticism, Palin said "[the investigations] adversely affected the people I was serving...I love aAlaska too much to put them through that."

Palin said that her bid would be partly contingent on Obama's job performance as the elections approach.

"I think if the election were today, I don't think he would be reelected," she said, but added that if he "toughens' his national security approach he could win reelection.

When asked to name other GOP presidential contenders, she identified House Budget Committee ranking member Paul Ryan (Wis.) as a "smart, articulate" official.

But when Wallace asked Palin to acknowledge other well-known contenders such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) Palin said "I could name a whole lot of them but we don't have a whole lot of time."