According to the Wall Street Journal one hour ago everything I guessed is exactly wrong - and all of the national media have missed the real reason she quit. Secret insiders have revealed the truth to the WSJ:

". . . it became clear that controversies and endless ethics investigations were threatening to overshadow her legislative agenda. "Attacks inside Alaska and largely invisible to the national media had paralyzed her administration," someone close to the governor told me. "She was fully aware she would be branded a 'quitter.' She did not want to disappoint her constituents, but she was no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do.""


To which I say bullshit. Look again at the agenda for a single California agency meeting. One meeting dwarves all of her travails put together. She could have almost ignored those ethics investigations.