Like clockwork, we saw the trial balloons go up after the election.

Mitt Romney was firing up his disciplined and battle-hardened team to go for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.

Besides the familiar threat of Mike Huckabee, only Sarah Palin stands in his way. So Mitt's minions tried to cut her off at her beauty queen knees. Spreading rumors that she is so mentally deficient that she doesn't know fourth-grade geography. Worse, they whispered, she's an uppidity dame (the worst slander of the right, short of "feminist").

Then, we learn that the Republican base really, really loves Sarah. We already knew the so-called GOP base (read: evangelical wingnuts and hillbillies) hates Mitt. A Rasmussen poll of likely Republican voters finds:

Palin:

Very Favorable: 65 percent.

Somewhat Favorable: 26 percent

Romney:

Very Favorable: 45 percent

Somewhat Favorable: 36 percent

Now we hear Romney is not going to run. Says Mitt's pal Charley Manning:

I'd be surprised if Mitt ever ran again for president. I sure don't think it was the best experience of his life.

Mitt, after all the money and energy and, dare I say it, hope, that Utah has invested in you — do you think you can bail? You are running in 2012, buddy. So buck up.