Centrist Democrat? Vote Palin 2012

Lifelong Democrat Amy Siskind knows how to stir up some conversation on "The Daily Beast": tell women they should give Sarah Palin a second look in 2012.

Palin, back in the headlines for rushing out a new book ahead of schedule this fall, is fresh, open-minded, a centrist and a party noncomformist. Hey, sisters in women's advocacy: Let's end the decades-long cold war with Republican women candidates. If we want progress to be made on issues of importance to women, our organizations need to master a skill at which men have always been adept: negotiation.

I've been surprised at the speed at which both the right and the left embraced Palin as a hero of the socially conservative movement. As Governor of Alaska, she didn't put an emphasis on social issues; her popularity (and why she is the bane of some activists on both sides) is that she represents the "populist" side of the current "populist vs. elitism" political debate.