Sarah Palin: I have "fire in my belly" for 2012 run

Updated 12:07 p.m. Eastern Time

Sarah Palin said on Fox News Thursday that she has the "fire in my belly" for a 2012 presidential run - but that she also has "practical, pragmatic" concerns tied to her family.

Asked by host Greta Van Sustren if she has the "fire in the belly" for a run, the former Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska governor responded, "that's a great question."

"I think my problem is that I do have the fire in my belly," said Palin, a Fox News contributor. "I am so adamantly supportive of the good traditional things about America and our free enterprise system and I want to make sure that America is put back on the right track and we only do that by defeating Obama in 2012. I have that fire in my belly."

"It's a matter for me of some kind of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made," Palin continued. "One is, with a large family, understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children's part in order to see their momma run for president. But yeah the fire in the belly -- it's there."

"That's kind of my problem is that it's such a roaring fire in my belly to preserve and restore all that's good about America that I struggle with that every single day," she added.

Palin also said she "feel[s] like I have a prayer shield in front of me that deflects" a lot of the negative attention that comes with being a public figure. She said she wants to make sure her family has "that tool to deflect also so that they're not adversely affected."

She also complained that the press focuses disproportionately on negative stories when it comes to conservatives. She said "the perfect example of the media's one-sidedness" is the lack of focus on President Obama's "associations."

"And now revelations of maybe some of his upbringing, some of his background, certainly his associations -- how they've impacted his worldview and how that affects his decisions today," she added.

Palin appeared to be referring at least in part to a controversial articleby conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza that claims in part: "The U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream."

The story is predicated on the questionable assumption that Mr. Obama's greatest influence is the father he barely knew.

A Gallup poll this week found Palin and Mitt Romney atop the wide-open Republican field.

You can see the full Palin interview below. Her "fire in my belly" comments come at the 8:00 mark.