Palin was on the ticket last time.
And McCain and Palin did worse than Romney and Ryan. They lost more states ie Electoral votes, and lost the crucial battleground states like FL, VA, and OH by a larger margin, and lost the popular vote by a larger margin than Romney and Ryan did with Obama. The reason McCain and Palin got more votes is because the turn out was higher in 2008 for both sides. However they were creamed in the pop vote and in the EC.
The myth of Palin needs to die, frankly.