THE POLL NUMBER PALIN REALLY CARES ABOUT IS QUITE HIGH

You'd think Sarah Palin would be trying to improve numbers like this one, from Public Policy Polling:

Where does Palin stand now? In our monthly 2012 Presidential poll, which we'll release later this week, she trails Barack Obama by 17 points. That's the largest deficit we've found for her since May of 2009.

But that's not the number she really cares about. The number that matters to her is in here, from PPP's crosstabs (PDF):

The number that's important to her is 78% -- the percentage of conservatives who think the press treats her unfairly. That's her ace in the hole. As long as that number is extremely high, she believes (correctly, I think) that she has a shot at the GOP presidential nomination -- that number means that a large bloc of voters see her as a martyr crucified on a liberal cross (and think voting for her is the best way possible to piss liberals off).

Pace Kos, this is the real "Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin": not the shooting, but the aftermath in which she's vilified, and then seems to her fan base like a victim of evil vilifiers.