Gov. Sarah Palin stunned Alaska and the nation Friday by abruptly announcing her resignation. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take over July 26.

Palin made the announcement at a hastily called news conference held at her Wasilla home as the holiday weekend began.

Palin said she first decided not to run for re-election next fall when her term is up, then figured she’d just quit now. Palin said she didn’t want to be a “lame duck,” a political phrase for an officeholder approaching the end of their term and losing clout to get their political agenda through.

“Many just accept that lame duck status and they hit the road, they draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I’m not going to put Alaskans through that. I promised efficiencies and effectiveness,” she said.

But Palin, who rose to national prominence when Sen. John McCain picked her as Republican nominee for vice president in 2008, could have waited until next year to announce her plan not to run for re-election. Her explanation makes no sense, said state Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, one of her leading critics.

“That isn’t a reason. Seated governors just don’t resign in the last year of their term no matter how successful or for that matter unsuccessful they’ve been. Right now there are a lot more questions than answers. And until the governor chooses to reveal more of her motive here, it’s just one of those questions we will never know the answer to,” Hawker said.

Palin said the decision came after polling her family about whether they wanted her to “make a positive difference and fight for all our children’s future from outside the governor’s office.” She said the response was four yeses and one “Hell yeah!”

“The ‘hell yeah’ sealed it – and someday I’ll talk about the details of that. … I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently,” Palin said.

An Alaska blogger recently doctored a picture of Palin holding Trig to replace Trig’s face with a pro-Palin talk radio host, causing Palin and her allies to declare outrage.

Palin said people changed after she was chosen to run for vice president. She brought up all the ethics complaints against her, saying they get dismissed but end up costing the state and herself in legal bills.

“It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with this instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more ‘politics as usual,’ but this isn’t what anyone had in mind for Alaska,” the governor said.

As for her future, Palin said: “I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops and energy independence.”

During her news conference, Palin ran off a list of accomplishments during her 21/2 years as governor, from pushing forward on a North Slope natural gas pipeline to rewriting oil taxes to revising state ethics laws.

Parnell said he found out Wednesday night when Palin called him and his wife, Sandy, into her office. “I was very surprised at first. But then as she began to articulate her reasons I began to understand better,” he said.

Parnell said it will be hard for people to grasp why Palin is doing this unless they’ve been in her position and dealt with the kinds of things she’s had to deal with. He said she “wants to be able to expand her work on behalf of us all, and I could tell she felt frustrated where she was and unable to do that.”

After Parnell is sworn in as governor, Craig Campbell, head of the state Department of Military Affairs and National Guard, will become lieutenant governor.

Hawker noted that Palin’s decision to quit “gives her unfettered ability to pursue her economic interests, whether it be a book deal or speeches, that type of thing, without being cluttered by state ethics law.”

Even the member of Palin’s cabinet who is possibly closest to her, Department of Corrections Commissioner Joe Schmidt, said he didn’t see this coming.

“All of Sarah’s decisions have been very easy for me to support, and I will support this one. But this one took me aback a little bit,” said Schmidt, who went to high school with Palin.

Republican Party of Alaska chairman Randy Ruedrich reacted with “complete surprise” to Palin’s decision to step down.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, an Alaska Democrat, said Palin gave no indication of a resignation when he met with her for 45 minutes just two days ago.

Many national Republicans were uncomplimentary of Palin’s resignation – and not impressed. It does nothing to shake what GOP pollster Whit Ayers called “the ‘lightweight’ monkey on her back.”

“If you’re a serious politician and you’re seriously interested in higher office, the best thing you can do is as good a job as possible in the current office,” Ayers said.