Officials in the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska are releasing more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's e-mails from her first two years as governor.

The e-mails were first requested by journalists in 2008 after Palin was picked by Republican presidential nominee John McCain to be his vice-presidential running mate. The messages cover the time period between December 2006, when she became Alaska governor, to September 2008. They include e-mails sent from two personal e-mail accounts which Palin also used to conduct state business.

The release of the e-mails comes as Palin contemplates a bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. She told Fox News last Sunday that “every rock” has been turned over to uncover things about her and her family. She said many of the messages were not meant for “public consumption,” and that people will take some of them out of context.

Palin resigned as Alaska's governor in July 2009 with 18 months remaining in her four-year term. Requests have also been made for e-mails covering her final 10 months in office.

Journalists have traveled to the state capital Juneau to retrieve several boxes of documents, for which they are being charged more than $700 in printing fees. The state printed out paper copies of the e-mails because officials said they were unable to create electronic copies.

More than 2,400 pages are being withheld by the state for legal reasons, including attorney-client confidentiality or executive privilege, in which a head of government chooses what kind of material to keep private.