Back to Palin, so are you hoping that it will be Palin that will confront Romney as a primary candidate but not necessarily as a presidential candidate herself in 2011-2012? So far she is not dissing any republicans even during a primary. That leaves only two options : 1) She runs herself, or 2) she supports a better candidate than Romney positively.
No you don't, McCain didn't do anything to us in 2008, with no money he defeated the early, less refined, Romney machine. If Romney had not been such a well financed player I think that better choices would have entered the 2008 primary and McCain would not have lucked out like he did. Romney queered the entire 2008 primary and gave us McCain. In 2012, Romney will do a similar thing by winning the primary and losing the race and races all down the ticket as demoralized conservatives stay home in droves.
I don't know Palin's role for 2012, candidate, giant maker, leader of a shadow conservative party within the GOP, I don't know, but I do see her as the only true giant slayer that conservatives have, without her we lose our star power, we will still have the usual conservative voices and leaders that we always have, but they will have lost the game changing, media giant and national leadership that gives them such a strong voice in public matters currently.
Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin are in a war for the soul of the Republican Party, one left, one right, Mitt Romney is a liberal in his soul, it is genetic. Sarah Palin is a conservative in her soul, it is genetic, this is the old battle between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, the old battle between the Western/Southern conservatives and North Eastern moderates.
Governor Palin and Governor Mitt Romney are already shaping the 2012 primary, and fighting for it's structure and themes, and tone, and it's goals, it will either be the old party or the new party emerging from the primary.