Palin: Won't "close the door" on White House run

Sarah Palin speaks during the National Tea Party Convention at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee February 6, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said on Sunday that she was open to a possible White House run in 2012 but has not made up her mind.

"I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country," Palin told Fox News Sunday. "I won't close the door that perhaps could be open for me in the future."

The Republican former Alaska governor, who was John McCain's running mate in the 2008 election, said she thought Democratic President Barack Obama would be vulnerable in a re-election fight in 2-1/2 years if he continues to pursue his current agenda.

Palin rallied conservatives on Saturday night at the Nashville, Tennessee convention of the national "Tea Party" movement. The Tea Party group hopes to have an impact on the November congressional races in which Democrats, who hold a majority in both houses of Congress, are at risk of seeing an erosion of their dominance.

In her speech, Palin hammered Obama on the rising U.S. debt and on national security issues.

Palin was recently hired by Fox News as a commentator. She has assembled a group of advisers -- some of whom are former aides to the McCain campaign -- who email her briefings each morning on domestic and foreign policy issues.

(Writing by Caren Bohan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)