Like Douthat, Millman suspects that Palin would have flamed out:
No, Palin doesn’t have a special bond with her supporters; she was just the vehicle of the moment, and a particularly potent one, for the moment. Had she run, and proved to be a terrible candidate – compared to Republican rivals, not compared to a hated Democrat – her supporters would have reluctantly moved on. They abandoned Herman Cain; they would have abandoned her. They might love her, but they wouldn’t want to lose with her.
Larison agrees. But what Palin does is polarize and ignite. If she had run an insurgent Tea Party campaign against Romney, she might have taken off as a base protest candidate. She was the previous veep candidate after all. Her real problem? Debates. They proved rather critical in shaping this primary race and her know-nothingness might even have dimmed her star among the proudest know-nothings. But we'll never know. Which, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing.
The Dish 