[StAnDeliver]

"If Newt is in the race to prove his cred, so he can become consigliari, then during his tenure in the race, he’s going to bleed off support from a real conservative, and again the race will be dumped in the lap of a rino pseudo-conservative."

He's in it for redemption and to advance his second Contract. Which is ok whatever but does have the potential to evolve as you suggest.

However, if there are agreements in place well beforehand, and if he is genuinely willing to become Henry Higgins to Palin's Eliza, Newt can tap into Palin's incipient Thatcherite qualities while gracefully getting around Greta and Sarah's other 'advisors', and she will be unstoppable.

Palin has been successful by knowing what advice to use and what advice to discard, but the immediacy of debate is her Achilles Heel. However, do you know how many people didn't see -- and have never seen -- the Couric interview? I am among them! I do not view Palin through that narrow prism.

Really, it doesn't have be Newt ... if there's a great Conservative factotum who could start working with her right now...

[xzins]

I’ve seen it. I didn’t like the non-answers at a few points.

But, the truth is none of it really bothered me. Then again, I was a supporter, but in the wide world of politics, it really doesn’t matter anymore. How else could she be tied with Obama for the lead, if it mattered to the electorate?

I don’t think her “I was peeved at the implied insult to my intelligence” answer has really been given the play that it deserves. That could well be true, and it explains how she simply refused to play that game.