Nope. But you and left hope that's true.
I found this the other day and posted it several times. It has now been removed but exists in Wayback.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110220171234/http://www.polyconomics.com/essays/esy-791126.htm
The Reagan strategy of staying out of the Republican campaign until November 13 successfully neutralized potential primary threats from Jerry Ford and Jack Kemp. Ford, Reagan's most serious contender, was pushed into making his formal announcement not to run by other contenders who needed Ford's supporters in their own campaigns. And Kemp was brought into the Reagan camp as "chief spokesman" and Chairman for Policy Development.
For most of 1979, several Republican candidates have appeared to be running for their party's 1980 presidential nomination. They've really been jogging in small circles, limbering up, waiting for Ronald Reagan to show up. "The race usually can't start until the front-runner lets it," Reagan's campaign manager, John P. Sears, told a reporter last summer. Sears, at 38 the premiere political strategist in the U.S., was in no hurry to let the campaign begin early, and once again he confounded conventional wisdom
Very good. You made my point for me. Reagan was able to set the tempo of his announcement because he had an experienced and established campaign and fundraising machine, and he was the presumptive frontrunner. None of those traits apply to Sarah.