[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/27/palin.stuff.jpg caption="Sarah Palin told a crowd in Fairbanks that she accomplished what she had promised as governor."]
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (CNN) - Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave her final speech as Alaska's governor Sunday before stepping down from her post, telling a Fairbanks crowd that she is resigning "to chart a new course to advance the state."
"Now people who know me, they know how much I love this state ... I feel it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical, politics-as-usual, lame-duck session in one's last year in office," Palin said, just moments before Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell was sworn in as governor.
"With this decision, now I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right and for the truth," Palin continued. "And I have never felt you need a title to do that."
Palin - interrupted briefly by a heckler - devoted much of her last address to a rundown of her accomplishments as governor, including winning legislative approval for a massive natural gas pipeline and governing "with fiscal restraint."
"What I promised, we accomplished," she told the mostly supportive crowd.
Palin has been a polarizing figure in the Republican Party since August, when then-presidential candidate John McCain made her his pick for vice president. At the time, little was known about the first-term governor. Within days, Palin's face and strong personality was splashed across newspapers, magazines and tabloids.