by Charles Simmins

Created on: November 06, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2008

Sarah Palin flew back to Alaska after spending Election Night with the McCain campaign in Arizona.For now the quiet of the Great White North will provide a respite for the woman who came from nowhere to run for Vice President.

The last weeks of the Presidential campaign were filled with sniping from anonymous McCain staffers. She had gone rogue". She was "off message". After the election, many of these same staffers sought to defame her, claiming she did not know that Africa was not a country and other nonsense.

The attacks by Republican insiders came on top of the weeks and weeks of stories about Governor Palin, her husband, her family and her actions while governor. It seemed like everyone with something nasty to say got to say it on national television. All the stories and investigations cleared her, but the mud had been flung.

Palin is back home in Alaska, and probably very glad to be there. Is she out of the limelight? Has she left the national stage?

One of the very first issues she faces is the election of Ted Stevens to the U.S. Senate. Stevens is a convicted felon, and his bid for reelection ended in a near tie. The final determination is some time off, but Palin will have work to do if he is declared the winner.

Stevens is not barred from serving, even if he is in prison. Palin will be a leader in the push to get him to resign. If he resigns, a special election will be held to decide the winner and she will probably determine who the Republican candidate for that seat will be.

That said, in two years the other Senate seat from Alaska is up. Lisa Murkowski was selected by her father, then governor, for that spot and then elected in 2004. Her father and his political cronies are the corrupt politicians that Sarah Palin ran against and beat to become Governor.

Palin might oppose Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary. Should she win, and it is very likely at this point, she would then be in the national spotlight again while serving in the Senate.

Given the losses the Republican Party has just suffered, the potential for Sarah Palin to take on a role in the national party exists. It is common for a party in this situation to replace its chairman, and Palin would be a great candidate to hold that position.

Palin has a huge fan base in the Republican party. In order to remain a national figure, she will have to parlay that base into some sort of public position in the lower forty-eight. RNC chairman and / or Senator from Alaska does that.

Palin has felt what it is like to be in the national spotlight. She has been used and abused as much as any candidate in recent memory and survived with grace and dignity intact. Her core beliefs and her personality resonate with many Republicans and independents. Unless vetoed by her family, Palin will return. Expect her to be a candidate for President in 2012.

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