Palin to be the keynote speaker at CPAC

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington next month.

Palin, a former governor of Alaska, will speak Feb. 11 at the high-profile conservative conference, ending four years of rejecting the American Conservative Union's overtures to speak at its conference.

Calling the 2012 presidential election critical, American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas said he was honored to have Palin as a speaker during the conference, ABC News reported Thursday.

"Few national conservative leaders in America today energize and inspire our grassroots activists like Governor Sarah Palin. Her strong record of leadership, championing of our shared principles and magnetic personality have made Sarah Palin a hero to millions of conservatives across the country," Cardenas said in a statement.

Palin, a political commentator for Fox News, has a shaky history with the American Conservative Union.

Ever since 2008, Palin has declined speaking engagements with the union, citing reasons such as a scheduling conflict to saying she had to attend to the "duties of governing" Alaska, ABC News said.

GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have said they will attend this year's convention.