Before casting Huck's chances aside, let's take a look at what prominent conservatives said when Sarah Palin resigned from her post (and it still seems like she's in the game).
Ed Morrissey:
Unless there was a serious illness or a serious scandal, the resignation on the grounds Palin gave is simply incomprehensible. She has destroyed her own credibility in a single day.
.... It’s a big disappointment, and it’s the end of any hope of Palin getting taken seriously as a politician on the national level in the future.
Andrew Malcolm:
What can she claim in 2011—I served 2.5 years as governor of Alaska and then quit?
Philip Klein:
.... to all but her most loyal supporters, today's bizarre press conference made her look brittle -- like a person who couldn't take the heat and was buckling in the face of attacks. Today's move is perfectly understandable if she wants to give up politics and protect her family from the blistering assaults of the media and her political oppenents. Maybe this news -- odd within the political realm -- actually makes her a pretty normal person by real world standards. But normal people do not get elected president.
Erick Erickson:
Sarah Palin will not be President in 2012. She will not run for President. She will not run for any elected office ever again.
Karl Rove:
How does she answer the question of, and, look, I say this as a fan, I'm terribly disappointed in this, because I think it hurts her as a viable choice in 2012.
Fred Barnes (from Sarah from Alaska, page 269):
"Forget about Sarah Palin as the Republican Presidential candidate in 2012 and probably ever."
Dick Morris:
.... you gotta take it when you're in politics. That's the one good thing about Hillary. You know she's not going to wilt.
.... I think she [Palin] was the front-runner when she resigned. But when you resign, you resign, you resign."
