Karl Rove pulls pin on Sarah Palin for US president

SARAH Palin has been rebuffed as a candidate for president at a senior level of the Republican Party.

Former White House strategist Karl Rove has said she lacks "gravitas".

The former Republican vice-presidential candidate confirmed yesterday that she would challenge President Barack Obama in 2012 "if there's nobody else to do it".

Ms Palin has been weighing up her future as Mr Obama's Democratic Party faces a potential disaster in Tuesday's mid-term elections.

Over the past month she has campaigned for Republican candidates backed by the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, from which she draws much encouragement for a White House bid.

Mr Rove cast doubt on Ms Palin's suitability, singling out the former Alaskan governor's appearance in a reality TV show filmed in her home state.

Sarah Palin keeping an eye on Russia for us.

"I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office'," Mr Rove told The Daily Telegraph of London.

He pointed to an ad for her new show in which she says: "I'd rather be doing this than (be) in some stuffy old political office."

Mr Rove served as a senior adviser to former president George W. Bush and is credited as the key strategist behind his election victories.

He remains a powerful figure in the conservative Republican Party, which expects to do well in mid-term elections by winning back a majority in the House of Representatives, and possibly in the Senate.

Like Ms Palin, Mr Rove is employed on Fox News as a political commentator, but his main preoccupation is to rebuild the Republican Party.