Sarah Palin of Alaska has reached out to President-elect Obama’s transition team to indicate her interest in being named “ambassador to the nation of Africa,” the governor confirmed today.

Gov. Palin said that although she had planned to continue in her position in Juneau, she was willing to leave the governorship “because Africa is just such a darned important country.”

“I have always been very, very interested in the nation of Africa, partly because of it being located where it is,” she said. “If you are standing in Africa and you look real close, you can see South Africa.”

She added that she had received phone calls encouraging her to vie for the post, including one from French president Nicholas Sarkozy.

In other news from the Palin family, Bristol Palin’s fiancé Levi Johnston said he was “totally stoked” about Tuesday night’s election returns, calling the results “definitely a game-changer for me.”

“The election of Barack Obama means different things to different people,” he said. “To me, it means freedom, dude!”