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How many of the examples you have cited have had the high negative ratings that Palin has in recent polls. Since from at least the first of the year Sarah has had high unfavorable numbers. In a very recent NBC/WSJ poll 53% of those polled had unfavorable feelings about Sarah Palin. I fully expect for you to explain that any poll in which NBC participated is not to be trusted and my response will be with polls others have conducted. Polls do not figure strongly in forming my opinions but I follow them to see how people preferences are trending.

How many of the examples you have cited have had the high negative ratings that Palin has in recent polls.

Well, I only gave two examples - Reagan for a good candidate, and McCain for a bad one. Reagan was strong with conservatives, and McCain - to put it mildly - was not. I'm not certain what Reagan's negatives were, but Democrats always underestimated him, so they may not have pulled out all the stops going after him before the primary. They thought he was an easy mark. The difference between Reagan and Palin is that the Democrats could see at a glance when McCain introduced her to "the lower 48" that Palin was a mortal threat to their politics. And they have been firing for effect on her ever since.
If we nominate Palin we have to take the long view, the same way that the coach of a pressing defense does in a basketball game. In the short run a press usually loses points - it's just that the press wears down the offense and induces a lot of turnovers late.

Palin would run a full court press on Obama, refusing to accept the administrations lame excuses and evasions. In the short run the media would be able to deflect and deny, but over the course of the campaign more and more people would pick up the good vibes from her and the bad ones which radiate so blatantly from this administration.
The one thing that the Republican candidate must not do is accept the premise that Obama deserves "affirmative action." The people deserve wise leadership, and that is what we will never see from Obama. There is no reason to believe that in October 2012 the Obama economy will be acceptable to the electorate. Herman Cain is right - the Great Recession is no worse than a lot of recessions in American history. The Carter recession was far worse. It's just that the "recovery" from this recession has been the most anemic since the Great Depression. And that should surprise no one who understands that taxes and uncertainty are the enemies of business. Act like FDR, preside over an anemic economy like FDR.