[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

OK. My initial shock has passed and the fear of imminent doom has passed.

This could actually be a brilliant move.

If her plan is to spend 2010 campaigning for die-hard conservatives for the 2010 elections, she could be drawing a line in the sand with the GOP, forcing them back to their roots.

Not only would this rally the conservative base for 2010 and hopefully get enough CONSERVATIVES in the houses to slow down this train wreck we are witnessing, it would give her the networking, the campaigning, and the exposure she needs to run — AND WIN — in 2012.

This could be part of a brilliant strategy. I hope I'm right. Quite frankly there aren't many out there that look good for 2012, except for DeMint and a couple of others.

[MadIsh32]

First she has to prove she actually IS a conservative

Something she hasn’t even come close to yet, in particular with economics.

[bereanway]

You may be right. She just wrapped up the TransCanada pipeline deal with Exxon-Mobil which I’m certain played into this. That was an enormous coup, IBD said she blew everyone away getting the biggest, toughest integrated major (Exxon-Mobil) to sign on a project which everyone said was dead. She now feels like her work in Alaska is done and she has bigger fish to fry which is 2010 and yanking the Republican party back to the right and raising money for good candidates.

This woman has shown over and over she is tough as nails so assuming she is stepping back just doesn’t fit with her MO. You know the oil and gas industry is furious over how zer0 is attempting to dismantle the entire industry. I think Exxon Mobil (gave her a message from the entire industry during those negotiations) and wants some payback and as a result she already has some unbelievably deep pockets behind her. They see her as the best candidate to turn things around and she knows the O&G industry as well as any politico out there. IBD said that Exxon Mobil has the toughest investment standards in the entire industry and to get them to sign on was a real mind blower.

This is stunning, but IMO she is far from being done and given what Todd has already stated I think that will become apparent shortly.