Kathryn Jean Lopez's Thursday capper on the NY-23 affair is right on:
.... there's something refreshing about him [Romney] not jumping in the mix — he's being himself and Palin's being herself.
And from Tuesday:
If he runs again, it’s going to be on his own terms. It’s the Let Romney Be Romney cycle. Which meant skirting the who’s-more-conservative? tug-of-war this time around.
In the middle of a tea party, restraint's either ignored or dismissed. The question is how long the party can last, and who's lying on the couch with a hangover once it ends.
If 2012 does come down to Romney v Palin (which I don't think it will), you'll at least have a very clear choice -- to a certain extent, ideologically, but more to the point, temperamentally.