It is an interesting possibility. After all, being in Washington would give her a much more national audience than she would have in another term as Governor of Alaska, and her term as Governor is up in 2010 as well.

The latest polls show that Palin would have an uphill climb in the primaries against current Senator, Lisa Murkowski who just happens to be the daughter of Frank H. Murkowski, the former Alaska Governor who Palin defeated in the Republican Primary for Governor.  The latest poll is from the Hays Research Group, was taken March 24& 25, and it shows that Palin has a 59.8 %  positive rating and 34.9% negative and Murkowski a 71.6%  positive  and 20.9% negative. This is an overall rating, which could spell trouble for Palin not only in a race for the Senate, but in any other race as well.

Alaska has been solidly Republican, most of the time recently, but things could be changing.  Long time Senator Ted Stevens lost his seat to Democrat Mark Begich. The Murkowski seat is one that the Republicans do not want to loose in any way, shape manner or form. They will want the strongest candidate and right now, it looks like that person is the current Senator. Sean Parnell, the current Lt. Governor is also mentioned as a candidate.  In a 3 way  primary, those who oppose Murkowski would split their vote between Palin and Parnell, a good thing for Murkowski.   Palin needs to be in office if she is seriously considering a run for the Presidency in 2012. So running for the Senate may not be in her best interest after all.

She has two other choices, run again for Governor.  Right now it appears there will be no opposition for her in the Republican primary. There are three Democrats in the running, two who have declared their intention to run, Bob Poe who is the  Ex-State Administration Commissioner & Ex-Anchorage Economic Development Corp and Rob Rosenfeld (D) – Ex-ukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council Director and one who has not declared, but who is considered likely to Ethan Berkowitz who is the Ex-State House Minority Leader, Attorney, ’08 US Rep. Nominee & ’06 Lt. Governor Nominee .  The only one who has had elective experience is the one who has not declared.  Palin has an excellent chance to hang on to the Governor’s seat against the first two and a good chance against Berkowitz.

Just to prove, that the world of politics is very mixed up, Palin has another choice as well.  Alaska has one Representative, Republican Don Young who is up for re election along with the rest of the Congress. However, Young is having problems that might make it impossible for him to run. He is under investigation for possibly taking bribes.  If he were forced to resign, Palin could run in a special election to fill his seat, or she could run against him in the Republican primary. So far no one, Republican or Democrat, has declared for his seat.

So, Palin has to decide whether to take that big risk for the high profile Senate job, go for the relatively safe Governor’s seat or run for Congress which would put her right in the middle of Washington, but as a member of Congress, she would not have the exposure she would as either Senator or Governor. So what should she do?