The Palin effect?

Washington - Defeated Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said late on Tuesday that elections in 2012 were "so far off" that she was unable to imagine making her own bid for the US presidency.

The conservative Alaska governor, who was plucked from obscurity to become John McCain's running mate, also refused to take the blame for the Republican defeat in the White House race.

"Right now, I cannot even imagine running for national office in 2012," she told CNN. "When I say that, though, of course, coming on the heels of an outcome that I certainly didn't anticipate and had not hoped for."

She added: "I mean, it is a time for all of us to work together. So having said that, 2012 sounds so far off that I can't even imagine what I'd be doing then."

Palin, whose socially conservative views and lack of experience were seen as having put off some independent voters, dismissed reports that people had voted against the Republican ticket because of her.

"I don't think anybody should give Sarah Palin that much credit that I would trump an economic time in this nation that occurred about two months ago," she told CNN.

"That my presence on the ticket would trump the economic crisis that America found itself in a couple of months ago and attribute John McCain's loss to me."

But she said if her presence had in any way damaged McCain's chances at the polls she would regret it.

"If I cost John McCain even one vote, I am sorry about that because John McCain, I believe, is the American hero.

"I had believed it was his time. He being so full of courage and wisdom and experience. That knowledge he embodies, I believe he would have been the best pick. But that is not the Americans' choice at this time."

The 44-year-old governor of the far northwest state of Alaska, the mother-of-five and a devout Christian, said it was time to turn to the future. "This being a chapter now that is closed and realising that it is a time to unite, and all Americans need to get together and help with this new administration being ushered in," she said.

She also denied charges that she had behaved like a diva during the race - charges that emerged from Republican aides as the wheels began to come off McCain's campaign in the final weeks before the election.

"It is absolutely false that there's been any tension, certainly from my part or my family's part. In fact, my family was surrounding me here," she said.

- AFP