VOA常速英语:Palin Book Fuels Discussion About Her Future

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Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is back in the news this week. Palin's autobiography, Going Rogue, will be released Tuesday, and publication of the book is already sparking a lot of discussion and speculation about her political future.

Sarah Palin's book has been at the top of bestseller lists for weeks and the former vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor finds herself back in the national spotlight.

In the book, Palin details a tense relationship with campaign aides working for last year's Republican presidential candidate, John McCain.

For example, Palin admits she did not perform well in a much-quoted interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric in which Palin declined to name newspapers and magazines she reads on a regular basis.

But that was not how the McCain campaign saw her performance.

Palin spoke about her book and the tensions within the McCain campaign in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  

"The campaign said, 'right on, good, you are showing your independence, this is what America needs to see, and it was a good interview'. And I'm thinking, if you thought that was a good interview, I don't know what a bad interview was because I knew it wasn't a good interview," Palin said.

The book does not indicate whether Palin will run for president in 2012, as many of her supporters hope.

Palin is very popular with social conservative activists, but much less so with independents and Democrats. She remains one of the most polarizing national political figures, and a recent Cable News Network poll found that seven in ten people do not believe she is qualified to be president.

Former McCain aides are responding to some of the complaints detailed in Palin's book and disputing her account of what happened.

Former McCain political advisor Steven Schmidt was asked about Palin's political future in an interview last month.

"She would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party in 2012.  Were she to be the nominee we could have a catastrophic election result," Schmidt said.

Other prominent Republicans believe Palin could grow into a potentially formidable presidential contender, given enough time and the right kind of advice, especially in the area of foreign policy.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is among several Republicans said to be considering a run for the White House in 2012.

"I think she will be a very significant factor in 2012 and I think that anybody who underestimates her runs the same risk they did with Ronald Reagan," Gingrich said.

Even though Palin is staying quiet about her political future, she will take a bus tour to promote her book that will pass through several states usually critical in presidential elections including Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.