As I watched Sarah Palin's press conference Friday, I kept thinking, "What's next?"

We haven't seen the last of her, I'm certain.

And perhaps the only way to stop the media feeding frenzy over all things Palin — since John McCain selected the then-little known Alaska governor as his running mate last summer — is to slip off to an undisclosed location. There would seem to be no shortage of those in Alaska.

But what will be Palin's second act? Does she plan to run for president? Is there a high-paying, high-profile private sector opportunity? Is there a scandal yet to erupt?

Time will tell.

Palin strikes me as profoundly ambitious, politically speaking. She will not go quietly into the night.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but political spouses and families sometimes pay a higher price for their loved one's aspirations than the candidate themselves. Palin's youngest child, who has Down syndrome, isn't yet in elementary school. He could endure decades of scrutiny in the white, hot spotlight should Mom continue a life in politics.

If Palin plays angry mama bear sometimes, she comes by it honestly. But she has to own the fact that when she agreed to be John McCain's running mate nearly a year ago, that she thrust her children — among them a pregnant Bristol — onto the national stage.

Perhaps I'm naive about politics, but would anyone have begrudged Palin if she had turned down McCain's offer to be his running mate? She could have honestly said, "This is not good timing for my family."

Or maybe you have to take the golden ring when it is offered. Palin is a household name, for good or for bad. She couldn't have bought the kind of exposure that the blood sport of politics provides. But it is a double-edged sword.

In a world where YouTube videos will follow us for a lifetime and "friends" on social networking pages are just itching to dish about their experiences with celebrity du jour, it's not so simple to fade from view while you regroup for your next adventure.

Beyond that, the "Saturday Night Live" videos of Tina Fey's Palin parody will be trotted out time and time again should Palin make another run for office.

So what is Palin thinking?

The most legitimate knock against Palin was her lack of experience. It was a valid criticism of a first-term governor running with a man who was many years her senior. After Barack Obama cruised to victory, the sensible route would have been for Palin to return to Alaska and demonstrate she could govern effectively. It also would have provided time to undertake intense study of foreign policy issues.