Your memory and mine are pretty much the same.
I give John Sears some of the credit for the things that went right for Reagan up until Sears was fired at the time of New Hampshire. But still the demise of Sears was great for the campaign. After that optimism prevailed.
I do not know who the Sears, Ed Meese, William Casey, etc are with Palin but I hope she has some good ones.