Palin lays low as interview requests pile up

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-07 10:50

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin hadn't been back home in Alaska for a full day and her staff had begun fielding requests Thursday for postelection interviews, including from Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and others.

Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, answers questions after returning to Anchorage, Alaska on Wednesday Nov. 5, 2008. Palin's brother Chuck Heath Jr. listens, left,. Palin returned after 70 days on the campaign trail as Sen. John McCain's vice president candidate. [Agencies]

Palin had been expected at her office in Anchorage but later notified her staff that she wouldn't be showing up after all. She stayed at her home in Wasilla, located 40 miles to the north, but was expected in her office on Friday, spokesman Bill McAllister said.

"The intensity of all the interest is amazing. Everyone wants to talk to her," he said.

Palin is coming off a whirlwind nine weeks of almost nonstop travel and campaigning since becoming Republican John McCain's vice presidential running mate in late August. McCain and Palin lost Tuesday's election to Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

"I think she's been working from home," McAllister said. "Maybe she just liked the idea of spending a whole day at home. It could be the first time she woke up in her own bed and spent the night in her own bed on the same day since late August."

Palin returned to Alaska late Wednesday night, her final flight in the McCain-Palin campaign plane. Dozens of supporters greeted her with chants of "2012! 2012!" as she walked off the airplane, encouragement for her to run for president in four years.

Asked by reporters if she might run, Palin said: "We'll see what happens then."

The governor said she hoped to work with President-elect Obama on energy policy.

She returned home after spending Tuesday night in Phoenix, where she watched election returns with McCain.