Good point!
Which brings up another one: Free Republic has always had some weird out-of-the-mainstream home town favorites. Based on FR support you'd have thought Alan Keyes was going to give Bush a run for his money in 2000. Or that Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo were near the top of the GOP field.
It's a little too early to consign the huge popularity that Palin has here to that category, but she could be the Fred Thompson of 2012. (The biggest guy who coulda-shoulda been a contender, but just never got there.
Based on our collective track record I would not say that FR's monster Palin support bodes especially well for her.