or hoping they will. what about sarah palin, who obviously gets a ton of attention, but she lacks the votes? is this a real problem if she decides to run, a la how you just described ron paul? i mean, is she electable? well, that s a separate question from how popular she is within the base of the party. she remains normsly popular, o followers are very energized, praying she ll run in 2012. i don t think she s going to, but i think she wants to remain in the spotlight and keep them energized. she clearly wants to be a leader in the republican party. very interesting, alex, that she only edged out newt gingrich by a few volts. i thought that was actually really telling. you think in a place like the southern republican leadership conference you d be much more popular than newt gingrich, but that s sort of illustrative, those numbers. but she remains obviously a huge force, enough to force tim pawlenty and mitt romney away