As Marc Ambinder notes, "It's not because she IS running in 2012. It's because, in order for her to think about running, she has to change the way that non-Republicans see her. It's a precondition."
Ron Brownstein: Exit polls showed 60% of voters said they did not consider Palin qualified to serve as president. Those figures were daunting enough, but new calculations from the exit poll provided by the NBC News political unit show that outside of the Republican base skepticism about Palin's credentials reached even more imposing heights. While 74% of Republicans thought Palin was qualified, just 35% of independents and 9% of Democrats agreed, the figures (first aired on David Gregory's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Monday night) showed. And while 40% of voters without college education thought she could step in, just 35% of college graduates agreed. Fully 63% of college graduates rated her unqualified. Likewise, while Palin scored relatively better in the South-45% of southerners thought she was qualified, and 53% did not-she faced towering levels of resistance in the east and west (where voters by more than two-to-one in each case considered her unqualified.) The Midwest tracked the national numbers, with two-fifths calling her qualified, and three-fifths not. Links here: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/11/11/palin_challenge.html
