Run for presidency? It'd be absurd not to consider it, says Palin

Speaking after she tried to rally conservatives at a national convention of the "Tea Party" movement, the former Alaska governor said she will run for president if she believes it is right for the country and right for her family.

Asked whether she knows more today about domestic and foreign affairs than she did two years ago, Ms Palin said: "Well, I would hope so."

Speaking on TV show Fox News Sunday, she said her focus has widened since she was governor of Alaska and says she gets daily briefings by e-mail on domestic and foreign policy issues from advisers in Washington.

Ms Palin was in Nashville at the weekend at a convention bringing together hundreds of activists from the "Tea Party" group, which hopes to make a splash in the 2010 congressional elections and beyond. "I believe in this movement … America is ready for another revolution," she said.

In a speech that made frequent appeals to patriotism and faith, Ms Palin used the familiar folksy, Washington-outsider rhetoric to lambast US president Barack Obama and his Democratic Party.

"How's that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you?" she asked, mocking the slogans of hope and change that swept Mr Obama into the White House.

Tea partiers grabbed headlines last year with often highly charged protests against Mr Obama's healthcare reform drive, a $787 billion economic stimulus package and other initiatives.

The convention is the latest sign that the diffuse movement is attempting to transform itself into a political machine that can get out the vote for conservative candidates. All 435 seats of the House of Representatives and more than a third of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs in November. Democrats currently have majorities in both chambers.

Ms Palin encouraged activists to get out and support candidates who shared their values. Her speech was frequently interrupted by bouts of thunderous applause. "This is about the people … and it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter," she said, making a reference to Mr Obama's use of teleprompters.

Referring to mounting debt and government programmes, Ms Palin said: "What they are doing … They're sticking our kids with the bill. And that's immoral, that's generational theft."

Organisers at the convention said activists were forming a political action committee to help elect conservative candidates next fall. Other Tea Party organisations, such as the Dallas chapter, have ongoing get-out-the-vote drives.

The movement takes its name from the historic protest against British taxation, the Boston Tea Party, one of the triggers of the American revolution against colonial rule.