Here’s a concession from a Democrat Party partisan in the Washington Post:

The truth is that Palin remains the only real first-tier presidential candidate the Republicans have — the only candidate who has been on a national ticket. Should she decide to run an active campaign, she would likely recover a good bit of the ground she has lost…It’s still not too late for her to give a series of serious policy speeches; not too late for her to put together a real campaign staff; not too late for her to crisscross Iowa and New Hampshire; and not too late, certainly, for her to raise tons of money for a campaign….

[A]s a first-tier candidate, a late start wouldn’t really be a major disadvantage. It’s not as if she would be Gary Hart in 1988, George McGovern in 1984, or Gene McCarthy in 1972 — a former heavyweight reduced to an object of curiosity. If Palin does wind up entering the race and running an active campaign, she’ll almost certainly be a major player.