The fact is that however much you or I may wish Governor Palin were the Republican candidate for President, she has nowhere near the popular folowing Ronald Reagan had. Someone who was alive in the 1950's should recollect that.
It wasn't until just a couple of months before the election in 1980 that Reagan actually started getting real traction. He certainly wasn't a shoe-in when he started his campaign, or even really at the time of the convention. The MSM had savaged him all during the campaign, and went all out on him, when he won the nomination. He was helped by the fact that folks had just had enough of Carter, and the misery he caused.