Palin, the Governors, and the New Power in the Republican Party by Byron York

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTgxMDMyNTU4NTE2MjM5MDQyNDlkMzU0YTlkNmNiMjQ=

Although the loss of the presidential election is the backdrop to this meeting, everyone here will tell you that Republicans shouldn't be thinking about 2012, because the way to build long-term success is by achieving short-term success.

"I thought Sarah was very right to say that we're focused on 2009 and 2010," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told reporters. "Thirty-six governors' races in 2010, including in Florida — that's where our focus is. When I was chairman of the Republican National Committee the last time we lost the White House, after the 1992 election, we focused exclusively on 1993 and 1994. And at the end of that time, we had both houses of Congress with Republican majorities, and we'd gone from 17 Republican governors to 31. So anyone talking about 2012 today doesn't have their eye on the ball. What we ought to worry about is rebuilding our party over the next year and particularly in 2010."

If that's the message, then Palin is very much on message. Speaking to the governors, she made a few jokes about the campaign — reporting on her last year, she said, "I had a baby, I did some traveling, I very briefly expanded my wardrobe, I made a few speeches, met a few VIPs, including those who really impact society, like Tina Fey, but other than that, it was pretty much the same old, same old." She praised John McCain. She recounted inspiring moments involving children with special needs. And then she spent a lot of time talking about the future — the governors' future.

"Let the pundits go on with their idle talk about the next election, about what happens in 2012," she said. "Our concern should be about our state's next great reform, our next budget, our next opportunity to progress in the states that we serve, and on issues like taxes and energy and health care, immigration, education, we will not lack for opportunities to serve and to lead and to show the way."