But who are Republicans really passionate about?

Gallup has a poll for that, too. It is called the Positive Intensity Score, and the winner is not Romney at 14 and not Palin at 16, but former pizza king Herman Cain at 27. The bad news for Cain, however, is that hardly anybody knows who he is.

Gallup’s conclusion: “There is thus no potential candidate who at this point combines a high name ID with strongly positive reactions among Republicans.”

So according to the polls, the trick for Palin, who leads all potential Republican candidates with a name recognition of 96 percent (Newt Gingrich is second at 84 and Romney is third at 83), is to build positive reaction among Republicans, especially those most focused on government spending and power.

Would that really be so difficult?