One of the things I and others at McClatchy do every time we post a story on the Web site is comb through our archives for related stories to link to. In the case of Sarah Palin, it's a long list — I haven't even made it back to our first stories, which, of course, pre-date her selection as McCain's VP candidate.

What rings true from that review is her complaint that she and Todd have found her time in the political spotlight to be personally costly. (Her allegations that Alaska has spent $2 million reviewing ethics complaints Friday seems exaggerated; this story from just a few days ago says the total is much less — and most of it was due to the "troopergate" investigation into whether she tried to have her ex brother-in-law fired. That probe was underway well before she was on the national stage.)

From a personal standpoint, she said she and Todd have rung up $500,000 in legal bills "setting the record straight." That's money enough. But it comes on top of a series of financial setbacks, all smaller, but still. . .

There were the back federal taxes she had to pay on the per diem she claimed while living in her Wasilla house, away from the governor's mansion in Juneau; the money she had to reimburse for her children's travel expenses, improperly billed to the state; the state car she gave up when it was determined she'd have to pay taxes on that, too.

Add the psychic blows she took over Bristol's pregnancy, Levi's joblessness and the efforts to get him employed, the various problems with future and current in-laws, the slams over what she wears, both on the campaign trail and at snow machine races, and you can see why it might become overwhelming. To say nothing of the Vanity Fair piece, in which all the allegations of her lack of preparation for high office are revisited.

If you're a hockey mom with a toddler, an unmarried daughter with an infant and now no fiance, another daughter entering the long slog through the teen years, how much combat do you want to do with David Letterman? Especially if your husband works as a commercial fisherman in the summers and rides the snow machine circuit in the winters.

It's way too early to write Sarah Palin's political obituary, of course. We'll soon know how her PAC did raising money, and as someone noted on TV last night, presidential candidates are often in their 60s; Palin's only 45.

And there's the book deal; out of office, perhaps she'll return fire, as she's done before. Can't wait. Because as everyone in the online world knows, nothing draws readers like a story with "Palin" in the headline.