Even though the McCain/Palin ticket lost the election almost one month ago, half of that ticket is still getting tons of media attention….and it’s not the top half of the ticket either.  Sarah Palin has defied the odds and not only remained on the media radar, she’s also been relevant.

Despite the actions and wishes of liberals, moderate Republicans and anonymous McCain staffers, she’s maintained her popularity within the party.  From highlighting the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, to the unfortunate (albeit slightly humorous) turkey pardon/wood chipper incident, to her campaigning in Georgia in the Saxby Chambliss runoff, Palin’s star still burns white hot.  Especially when it comes to internet searches.

Via Politico:

Palin was the most popular Lycos search from the week she joined the ticket continuously through last Sunday, some two weeks after the election, when she was dethroned by Paris Hilton, the celebutante whom John McCain famously compared to Barack Obama.

The Alaska governor now ranks fourth, just one spot below Obama, on the weekly Lycos 50 list.

“People are still searching for her in record numbers,” said Kathy O’Reilly, a spokeswoman for Lycos. “How bizarre is that? Obama is the president-elect after the most historic election of all time and you’d think he would be dominating search activity and he only now is going ahead of her.”

But the question since John McCain’s defeat has been, what’s Sarah Palin’s role in the GOP after the election? The reaction have been varied from she should be the GOP nominee in ‘12 to “won’t she just go away!”.

But that doesn’t stop the faithful.

(Read more after the leap)

According to a recent Gallup poll of people who identify themselves as Republicans or Republican leaning independents, Sarah Palin not only remains immensely popular, she leads a group of 10 candidates Republicans would like to see run in 2012.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are most interested in seeing Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee run for the party’s presidential nomination in 2012. Those three received the highest scores among the 10 possible candidates evaluated in a recent Gallup Panel survey.

Granted this poll was taken in the week after election day, and I honestly think that as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s profile continues to rise, he could overtake her, Sarah Palin could still prove to be immensely popular four years from now. Her only problem being that she has to travel thousands of miles to stay on radar.

But again, as Politco notes:

“As long as she’s still in the mainstream media, it will continue to fuel her presence online. She’s sort of fanning the flames just by showing up,” said Phil Noble, president of PoliticsOnline and a pioneering consultant in online politics. “The other issue is that at some point people become permanent celebrities. She may have just reached that status.”

The polarizing role she played in the presidential campaign may also be driving the enduring fascination with all things Palin.

“People are projecting their values onto Sarah Palin, and in some sense, she reflects them back,” said Mark Corallo, a Republican media strategist. “She’s a conservative, she’s young, and she’s attractive. She speaks to something that’s been missing from the Republican Party.”

David All, a Republican new media consultant, notes that the uninterrupted attention offers Palin an unprecedented political opportunity even if a good portion of the curiosity comes from her detractors.

“There’s a heckuva lot of wind out there for Sarah Palin. Now she has to put up a sail to catch it,” he said. “She can use that Internet bully pulpit to help change the hearts and minds of folks. She has a unique opportunity to build up something massive.”

What kind of involvement do you think Sarah Palin should have in the GOP going forward?