Without the threat of being President she loses a lot of her juice, if you want her to keep the media’s attention in the service of her conservative goals, then you should strive to keep the Presidential run alive.
Besides, a lot of this is for nothing if she doesn’t become President, passions like this can’t be kept alive forever, you have to get the big payoff before it dissipates.
This battle that you admire is not just Dem versus Rep, this is a battle for the soul of the Republican party (yet again), if a Daniels, or Pawlenty, or Romney wins in 2012, then the conservative movement fizzles and is absorbed again by the moderates of the Rockefeller heart of the GOP.
I like Thune for 2012.