I don't know if she has time but there is only one Ronald Reagan. Reagan was The Great Communicator.
While Sarah Palin's ideas are very Reaganesque it will take a lot more time and a lot more talking for Sarah Palin to articulate those great ideas she has than it took Ronald Reagan. Reagan was an actor so that probably helped him.
What may take months for other candidates to articulate to the American people only took a few days to a week for Reagan to do. That's why he was The Great Communicator.
Most candidates use the primary debates to sharpen their debating skills for the general election debates. Most candidates make their gaffes and recover from them during the primary debates and they recover just in time to win the nomination in the end.
By the time the debates come up for the general election, the nominee has been through many debates in the primaries and their debating skills sharpened.
I thought like you did with Fred Thompson back in 2008. Been there done that.
I see the opposite. Many more channels of communication nowadays.