Palin for President in 2012?

No, that's not the title of this week's "Saturday Night Live" skit.

Whether the McCain-Palin ticket wins or loses next week - some congressional Republicans are at risk of losing their seats, as well - a group of prominent conservatives are planning to meet the next day to discuss what the heck to do next.

And Sarah Palin is going to be high on the agenda.

The New York Times reports that Palin's prospects are the subject of intensive conversations among conservative leaders, including the group that will meet next Wednesday in rural Virginia to weigh social, foreign policy and economic issues, as well as the political landscape and the next presidential election.

Politico says that if McCain wins, the discussion will feature much talk of, "How do we work with this administration?" - since it's no secret McCain isn't exactly a conservative darling. Palin, however, is.

In a McCain White House, Palin would be seen as the conservatives' conduit to power. "She would be the conservative in the White House," is how the source put it to Politico.

But if McCain loses, next week's pow-wow will include who to groom as the next generation of conservative leaders. Yes, Palin will be at or near the top.
There's more than just a few rumors out there that conservatives and Sarah Palin fans are planning for a "Palin for President" move in 2012. In fact, some are even calling her "the new Ronald Reagan." Talks on this topic got even louder this week.

Don't laugh. It's true. Yes, she said being able to see Russia from her house gave her foreign policy cred, and yes, there's criticism that she's been a drag on the GOP ticket this year - including of course, even McCain's own people calling her a "whack job." But love her or hate her - she's energized a base that needed more than a little excitement that the 72-year-old McCain just couldn't quite rally himself, or with another older white guy.

"A civil war that is simmering will break out into the open if McCain loses, and the party will have to decide what they want to be in the post-Reagan world," said Gloria Borger, a senior political analyst for CNN.

Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, called it a "top order of business" to determine Palin's future role. "Conservatives have been looking for leadership, and she has proven that she can electrify the grass roots like few people have in the last 20 years," Bozell told the Times. "No matter what she decides to do, there will be a small mother lode of financial support behind her."

"Republicans, even some McCain advisers, have yet to realize the enormous asset they have in Palin: She's the party's most crowd-pleasing and exciting figure since Ronald Reagan. Okay, she's not a 'new Reagan.' That role will remain eternally unfilled. Palin lacks Reagan's decades of political involvement, his knowledge, and especially his grounding in conservative thought," writes The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes, who acknowledged that the Alaska governor does in fact have some of Reagan's skills - wink, wink.

Barnes recounts a conversation he had with Palin about her future:

"I don't know what kind of role the Republican party would want me to play," Palin told him. "In the past, I have not been one to be considered for anything by the hierarchy of the party. Certainly not in my state. In some sense, I ran against my party."

"...I would love to promote the party ideals if we're going to live out the ideals and maybe allow other American voters to understand what the principles of the party are."

"We've got to be assured we have enough people in the party who will live out those ideals and it's not just rhetoric. Otherwise, I'd be wasting my time. There are a lot of things I would and should be doing."