Well, that is the latest media narrative.
Look, any real conservative will be derided as a dunce and unelectable by the establishment and elite media (see: Reagan, Quayle, Palin)
Sarah Palin is our only hope of a real conservative nominee. If we split our votes among three or four conservatives, a RINO establishment guy like Romney will get the nomination.
This why you have statements and article after article from the inside the beltway crowd pounding the “unelectable” and “polarizing” themes.
Don’t fall for it.
Palin has said that if a "real" Conservative runs, she won't and will instead help that candidate, so if Pence announces, which it appears he will, there won't be the problem you describe.
I disagree that she's the "only hope". What about Chris Christie? Bobby Jindal? Jim DeMint? What about all the new Tea Party folks in Congress?
What I mean by a Buckley presence is that Palin speaks and it sets the debate. When she mentioned "death panels" in the health care bill, it got the conversation started. It steered the debate. She has done that several times and whether the Left reacts with derision or dismissal, they *do* respond.
She was exceptionally useful this election season without actually running for office. How powerful it would be to have her comments and participation each election season without an actual elective office with which to distract her.
But every time there is a poll released of who should have the GOP nomination, Sarah Palin is not leading. She's not even getting 20% in many of them. That's why I'm unsure her notoriety will translate into votes for president. That's a major problem when the likely result of misdiagnosing the public is four more years of Barack Obama.
I do agree that the Tea Party and conservatives need to coalesce behind one candidate early in the primaries to avoid what happened in 2008. If that person is Palin, I'll have no problem supporting her. But I don't want to hand Palin the nomination until she can prove she has the party's support and, at this point, that's not nearly a certainty.
The Palin supporters need to ask themselves if THEY are willing to support anyone else. I'm not talking about a Romney or Giuliani. I'm talking about solid conservatives whose names are not Sarah Palin.