Palin is a GOP star in the making

Washington, Dec.1 (ANI): Palin's flash emergence on the national stage has left her as well positioned as any Republican to make a serious run for the GOP nomination in 2012, reports Politico.

Yyet waning support from the political center may threaten her presidential ambitions, according to a Politico analysis of public polling.

A Gallup poll of Republican voters released last Friday found Palin atop a field of ten Republicans, including 2008 primary candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, in a hypothetical 2012 match up.

Fully two thirds of Republicans, including Republican-leaning independents, want Palin to run for president in 2012, twice as many as back Louisiana Governor. Bobby Jindal, who has already made one post-election visit to Iowa, and about 20 points ahead of former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

But even as Palin exploded over a few weeks from relative obscurity to a bigger star within the party than its own presidential nominee, Democrats and independents quickly soured on her, she became one of the most divisive figures in politics.

In mid November, Gallup found that only 45 percent of Americans hoped Palin is "a major national political figure for many years to come." About three-quarters of Republicans hoped so, three-quarters of Democrats hoped not, as did 53 percent of independents.

Exit polls also showed that 64 percent of independents viewed Palin as unqualified to be president, with nine of ten Democrats and one in four Republicans agreeing.

The GOP intra-party debate over Palin has become a proxy for the larger question of her party's future.

"She is the most popular speaker in the Republican Party," said Katon Dawson, who heads the South Carolina GOP.

"The first impression of Sarah Palin is that she is a Republican warrior who took a pretty good licking, and a lot of it unfair," Dawson said. "Sarah is going to be one of the leaders in the party like Bobby Jindal, like Mark Sanford, like Rick Perry."

Palin is now reportedly fielding hundreds of media interview requests, including from Oprah Winfrey, as well as lucrative offers to shore up her national image.

Republican strategists, however, believe Palin must now step off the national stage.

"Palin needs to demonstrate growth above all else, if she is capable. She needs to retire from the field, endure a period of introspection, and renew herself before she can attempt to return," said Alex Castellanos, a GOP media consultant. (ANI)