Sarah, the half-governor of Alaska, is much in the news these days, and that’s just where she most wants to be.

Why is she still a headliner after helping put John McCain back in the U.S. Senate instead of the White House?

Here’s a question for you: Ever heard of Herschel Vespasian Johnson? Didn’t think so. How about Benjamin Gratz Brown? Didn’t think you had. Thomas A. Hendricks? Sargent Shriver? They’re all losing vice presidential candidates.

Years from now, Palin’s name will still be familiar, even without a search engine handy. Why? Her handlers know how to keep her in the forefront of our media, and they’re doing a darned fine job of it. Regardless of your feelings about Palin, you have to admit that she and her people know a thing or two about Americans, and our affinity for fresh, flash and fun, not to mention faux populism, when it leaps off our TV screen into our living rooms.

Is Palin qualified to be president of the United States? Get real. By that calculation, I’m qualified to be president of Ohio State. I can see it from my house, after all, and, even better, I’m a student here! Move over, E. Gordon Gee, I can handle this, I have all the notes I need inked on my palm. And I won’t quit halfway through my tenure, either.

Is Palin truly the savior of the “tea party” movement? Maybe; maybe not. Progressives in this country absolutely knew President Barack Obama was their savior, but he’s turning out to be a whole lot more conservative and cerebral than they’d like. Careful what you wish for.

So is Palin what she appears to be, or is she dumb like a fox?

In a recent Huffington Post op ed, David Broder, dean of the Washington press corps, applauded Sarah Palin in a veritable Valentine’s letter, saying, “Blessed with an enthusiastic audience of conservative activists … [Palin] could draw a contrast with Barack Obama and point up what Republicans see as vulnerabilities in Washington.”

Broder has been around a long time, and he knows politics. Is he really hyping Palin’s creds to be president? Promoting her as a viable candidate for not-so-far-off 2012? Again, get real. As I see it, Broder is doing exactly what a responsible journalist ought to be doing about the Palin phenomenon. He’s pushing her out of the half light, where it’s possible, and likely, that anyone can project their own definitions onto her, into the full glare of pubic scrutiny. While a lot of media types look at Sarah Palin with their deer-in-the-taillights look, claiming she’s simplistic, anti-intellectual, “folksy” and an outlier, what they fail to see is that those attributes precisely define her appeal.

To my fellow progressive, liberal, democratic, Obamanites, it’s not too early to take a page from Broder, and pay more attention to Palin, even to the extent of promoting and praising her many attributes and giving her as much mainstream attention as she can handle.

Here’s what I think. Those palmed crib notes? Simple sleight of hand, and meant to be noted. The lady is playing us like a fiddle.