"The biggest mistake made was that I could have called more shots on this"

...the interviews that I did were not necessarily those I would have chosen.

This statement does bother me a bit. Reading between the lines, it sounds like she just wanted to deal with "friendly" interviewers. I never trust a candidate who only wants to do the easy interviews. I think she does have a lot of ability and political future. I think she can do the job, with enough preparation. There was not enough time to bring her up to speed. Plus, after eight years of President Bush, I think there was a bit of an anti-anti-intellectual backlash. The campaign did mishandle a lot. Looking back, though, Romney may have been a better choice for 2008. It sure would have helped in October.

I'm not entirely sure I am on board with Palin 2012 as a lot of people want to push. I do disagree with the hard right that the reason the GOP lost was because there was not conservative purity on the ticket. I still feel strongly that a strong conservative gets his/her butt kicked by the Dems this past year. Obama managed to redefine himself as the center candidate through his ability to turn himself into a tabula rasa for the people to define as they see fit. I suspect that Obama will be a powerful force in 2012 also. If the economy is not recovered, I can easily see him return to running against Bush by saying it took eights years for Bush to break the economy and it will take him more time to fix it. If a firebreather is thrown up against him, I fear a killing by Obama. Now, this is way out in the future. Maybe Palin can grow some more in the next four years; but I still think it is going to be a very difficult road.