Palin on the Offensive

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began her national media blitz last night, telling FOX News' Greta Van Susteren that she's looking for a sign from heaven as to what to do in 2012.

"I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door," Palin said. "And if there is an open door in '12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door."

Palin blamed Bush administration policies for the defeat last week of the GOP ticket. She told the Anchorage Daily News that, "it's amazing that we did as well as we did."

"I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration? If we're talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing."

She also said she neither wanted nor asked for the $150,000-plus wardrobe paid for by the Republican Party, and said there was too much information about her out there the media left unchecked - including whether she or her 17-year-old daughter Bristol was the mom of her newborn, Trig.

"I'm Trig's mom (raises her hand) and do you want to see my medical records to prove that? ... And banning books. That was a ridiculous thing also that could have so easily been corrected just by a reporter taking an extra step and not basing a report on gossip or speculation. But just looking into the record. It was reported that I tried to ban Harry Potter when it hadn't even been written when I was the mayor. So, gosh, we have so many examples, I mean every day, especially the first few weeks, every day something that was thrown out there."

Palin also spoke to Matt Lauer of "The Today Show," and even cooked him dinner at her home in Alaska.

Here's Part I of Palin's interview with FOX.

Although Palin could conceivably be in Washington, D.C. within a year if the Senate expels Alaska's senior U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and she chooses to try to replace him, she told Lauer: "I'm not planning on it, because I think the people of Alaska will best be served with me as their governor."

She added: "You know, when you talk about that white-hot spotlight - that's not really attractive to me," Palin said. "Look what that white-hot spotlight does to one's family, and does to one's credibility and record and word. So that's not the attraction to me."

But she could just change her mind.

"If I can be part of a solution to help this nation ... certainly I want to be a part of a solution in those terms," she said. "But in the meantime, [I'm] going to be making sure that Alaska develops our resources so we can contribute more to the U.S. and allow our nation to be energy independent and secure and prosperous. I can do that as the governor of Alaska."

Here's part of her interview with Lauer, which includes a chat with Alaska "First Dude" Todd Palin: