Like Newt or not; he has the intellectual horsepower to push through the press and others.
Romney and Santorum do not.
Palin has the same skill; but in a different way. She has better instincts than all of them.
She can't policy in as much detail as Newt can; but she has Reagan's talent to know how to find the answers.
Palin is a natural politician. Has the popular touch but also sees what the leading issues are. Her problem is, partly, that probably half the leadership of her party is liberal, of the same mind as someone like Kay Bailey Hutchison, who probably wanted, expected Romney to choose her as VP in 2008.