The question is not, "Can Palin beat Obama." Rather, it is simply this: is Sarah Palin ready for the 2012 campaign ?

Here is an excerpt from a Rasmussen article giving a summary review of several polling results. This particular quote speaks to Sarah Palin's numbers compared to those of Obama. You already know the outcome, but just to remove all doubt, give the following paragraph a read. You will not be surprised.

From Rasmussen: The only time Obama hits the magical 50% mark is when he’s matched up against former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who picks up just 33% voter support. Palin has a busy schedule leading up to a major public event in Iowa on September 3, and Republican insider Karl Rove predicts she’s about to enter the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

I know we just started this post, but let's review: the one Republican unannounced for the coming presidential election; the one Republican currently "not" in the game; the one Republican not involved in GOP debates and has no presidential election "machine - that one Republican is running far behind the others as they compare to Obama? ?? Few if any of you were surprised at the conclusions of the Rasmussen report. More importantly, no one should be surprised to know that her "not running" has to have an effect on her polling numbers versus Barack Obama and in a decided negative way.

Let me ask you this: what if her political instincts are better, far better, than anyone currently in the "race," including Obama? Understand that Sarah Palin is a woman who came to us, almost directly from the floor of her kitchen. Sure, she was a member of the local school board; the chairman of an oil commission; the mayor of a small town and the very popular Governor of a small-population state. She was all of these things and functioned in each capacity with noted success. While the Obama media busies itself with the destruction of Palin, on these very qualifications, we remind all that Obama has never so much as managed a donut shop. We all know that he is in over his head, a slow learner without the benefit of real world experience. Of course she can beat him.

Back to her political instincts. I say she has kept herself near the middle of the political stage with nothing but instincts. Think about it while you try to figure out why I am wrong.

Why would anyone think that her 15 minutes of fame would last for three years? It did, you know. Think that "just happened?"

Three years ago, she staggered (verbally) through one interview after another, and then, on June 5 of this year, she was interviewed by Chris Wallace, a 30 minute interview, and in that interview proved that she is ready to move forward. Red State, not afraid to criticize Sarah Palin in the past, had this to say about that interview:

Hopefully all Red Staters will get to see Sarah Palin’s interview today on FOX News Sunday. Interviewed for nearly 30 minutes, without interruption, by Chris Wallace, it was a bravura performance. She is most definitely ready, willing, and able to win the GOP nomination and defeat Obama in 2012.

Chris Wallace was most complementary, as well. The gist of his review was this, "She is ready."

That was our impression, as well.

No one, absolutely no one, gives her credit for still being around, after all these years. Can she win over enough of the so-called "independents? Of course she can. Can she interview well? We now know that she can. How would she do in an Obama/Palin debate? She did pretty good against "can I call you Joe" Biden.

Think about it; the worst thing that could possibly happen to Obama, in an Obama/Palin debate, would be for Sarah to "hold her own" in such a contest. No one on the Left wants to take a chance of that happening. Obama and his clan have spent 3 years lowering expectations for Sarah Palin. What if she campaigns with grace and effectiveness? Much of politics is "perspective," what we think people said; how we think they will function. What if Palin exceeds those expectations?

I am telling you, she most certainly can beat Obama in 2012 -- all the Karl Rove's to the contrary. And Obama may, one day soon, wish he had not spent so much time pretending that she offers no challenge.