Republican VP nominee Palin eyeing 2012: report

Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin speaks at a campaign rally with Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain in Hershey, Pennsylvania October 28, 2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Whether or not Republican presidential candidate John McCain is elected next week, his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, plans to remain on the U.S. national political scene, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

Asked about 2012, whether she was discouraged by daily attacks on the campaign trail and whether she would return home to Alaska, the Republican vice presidential nominee signaled that she expects to be a player in the next presidential election cycle.

"I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken ... I'm not doing this for naught," Palin told ABC News in a taped interview airing on Thursday.

A campaign spokesperson traveling with Palin in Indiana said the vice presidential nominee was talking about being focused on winning on November 4 and is not going to quit despite what the critics have said.

With less than a week before Election Day, Palin told ABC that she believes in the current Republican presidential ticket and that she thinks "it's going to go our way on Tuesday, November 4."

"I truly believe that the wisdom of the people will be revealed on that day," she said.

Palin has energized the Republican base of supporters. But the Alaska governor has come under withering criticism on a variety of issues, including whether she is qualified to become vice president.

(Writing by Joanne Allen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)