There is a two year window in which to file. And there’s no reason she couldn’t file after the election seeing she was a private citizen when the defamation occurred. Don’t get your hopes up.
Why do Freepers keep saying Palin is (or was) a “private citizen?”
Once she decided to run for VP of the United States, and started touring the country with McCain and giving nationally televised speeches, didn’t she cross the line into “public figure?”
She should sue, but I don’t think she can be described as a “private” citizen.