Laura Bush calls Palin an ‘effective’ campaigner

Add Laura Bush to the list of those wondering whether Sarah Palin will run for president in 2012.

In an exclusive interview with Deborah Roberts for Yahoo! News and ABC News at the Women's Conference 2010, the former first lady calls Palin an "effective" campaigner but, just like everyone else, she's not sure the former Alaska governor will ultimately run for the White House.

"I have no idea," Bush says of Palin's 2012 ambitions. "I really don't know. You know, she's out there. She's speaking everywhere, but I don't know if that's because she wants to run or just -- I have no idea."

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Bush acknowledged that Palin has become a force on the campaign trail. "I think Sarah Palin is Sarah Palin," Bush said. "I mean, I think that's her style, and it obviously has been effective. I mean, there are a lot of people who like her a lot and who watch her a lot and want her support -- a lot of these other candidates who are running."

Bush sees a larger lesson in Palin's success: "What women need to know is they can be however they want to be, running, in whatever way they feel the most effective" on the campaign trail.

In particular, she praised former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's bid for governor in California, citing her business experience. "She has that inner background that I think is very effective for her," Bush said.

Bush told Yahoo! News she's "thrilled" about the number of women running for office this year. "When we look around the world, many, many more countries have more women in elected office, or at least in federal office, than we do in the United States," she said. "And so I'm really glad to see that women are anxious to run and to serve. And always, women have been big campaign supporters -- now I'm really glad to see that they're actually running themselves."

(Photo of Laura Bush: Mario Tama/Getty Images)