With apologies to Tim Rice.

Listening to the ongoing speculation surrounding Sarah Palin, I can’t help but re-imagine the opening exchange between Molokov and the Russian in the musical Chess:

[MOLOKOV]
The woman’s utterly mad –
we’re watching a lunatic.

[THE RUSSIAN]
That’s the problem — she’s a brilliant lunatic.
You can’t tell which way she’ll jump.
Like her game, she’s impossible to analyze –
you can’t dissect her, predict her –
which of course means she’s not a lunatic at all.

[MOLOKOV]
What we’ve just seen’s a pathetic display
Of a woman beginning to crack.

She’s afraid!
She knows she isn’t the player she was –
And she won’t get it back.

[THE RUSSIAN]
Nonsense!
Why do the pundits always want to believe
third-rate propaganda?

At this point I’m not staking myself to any firm predictions about her future, but I do believe she stands to have a profound influence in the next election. Regardless of the uncertainty evident in polls since her announcement, she has considerable sway among party adherents. Her participation in campaign events in key districts could deliver much needed funding and break the pervasive enervation often characteristic of mid-term elections.