I don't see it that way. I never thought she would run and I certainly wasn't waiting on her. Yes there were some misguided FReepers that were waiting but they represent a relatively small segment of the voters. She wanted to keep her options open and I don't blame her for waiting. So I don't think she had much of an effect on the nomination battle.
she personally didn’t, but her supporters went out of their way to destroy everyone else to clear the path for her.
Now we are left with a bunch of badly wounded choices + the liberal trojan horse Romney.
90% of all the hate for everyone actually running was coming from Palin supporters.