With Sarah Palin’s no tonight, and with Chris Christie’s no yesterday, the Republican presidential field is set — seven men and one woman. That’s it. No more.

One of these eight will be the Republican presidential candidate next year, and one of them, if Obama loses, will be the next president…

Palin’s announcement tonight was much overdue. She had tested many voters’ patience with her games surrounding her candidature. In the end, she ran out of time. But she probably also realized that she was not going to win the nomination. With 63 per cent of Republican voters not wanting her to run, how could she?

In her statement, she promised to stay active:

“I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.”