The appearance of her "drill baby, drill" editorial in the Washington Post tells me that the Quitbull With Lipstick is still very much in the game as far as political office-seeking goes. And her screwing over the electorate in Alaska doesn't suggest that the office she has in mind is a Senate seat.
So it must be a discouragement that even the hardened reality-resistance of the RedStaters is insufficient to entertain a delusion that the Oval Office is in her future:
Only a fool would count her out of the political scene entirely, especially in today’s volatile populist climate. But it’s hard to see her as a serious presidential contender in the future. Presidents have to put all other things aside for their jobs, even their families. Maybe Barack Obama has broken the mold of requiring presidents to have some relevant experience, and maybe her primary opponent in 2012 would be a one-term Governor (Mitt Romney), but at the end of the day, a one-term governor who didn’t even finish her term is not a credible presidential contender. [emphasis added]
http://www.redstate.com/...
The article doesn't emphasize the point - busy as it is with whining about David Letterman and all those frivolous ethics complaints - but the subtext is clear: America doesn't respect quitters.