Reader Rob Minor reports:

To frequent applause and a number of standing ovations, former VP candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin addressed the Tea Party Convention Saturday night in Nashville. One day short of what would have been Ronald Reagan's 99th birthday, she unabashedly invoked The Gipper's vision of America as a the shining city on a hill, and a beacon of hope to all the world. Tributes to America's servicemen and women both in the audience and everywhere were punctuated with well-targeted jibes at the current Administration, and she called upon the Tea Party movement to transcend partisan barriers and get behind candidates of all political persuasions who might best carry forward the maxim that "that government is best which governs least." This address was not a clear announcement of her own re-entry into the political arena as a candidate for any office, but it does seem to indicate she is at least going to be a national political figure in some measure for the foreseeable future. This message at least rang clear: Mission Control, The (Alaskan) Eagle has landed!

It had been a while since we had seen Sarah Palin live and in person. And then she popped onto stage Saturday night at the National Tea Party convention in Nashville, and we made these observations:

1) She's lost a lot of weight, perhaps 15 pounds. She looked trim and firm, like she's hoisting the barbells or maybe chopping wood. Her chair at the head table was empty; if she had the shrimp and filet mignon served to attendees, she ate in her hotel room.

2) She wore a fitted black suit, black hose and high black platform heels. She had on three opera-length strands of pearls, two white and one multi-colored. In her lapel, a small pin with two flags -- for Israel and the United States.

3) She was animated and full of energy, so much so that she kept knocking her microphone with her hand as she made her points. Hope the Texans are ready for her when she campaigns Sunday for Gov. Rick Perry. She certainly looks like a woman who has some plans.

A decidedly more partisan take from David Weigel of the liberal Washington Independent:

After the speech, Judson Phillips and Palin sat down in two chairs (which sat rather awkwardly onstage during the speech) and engaged in a soft Q&A with questions from Tea Party Nation members, such as the top three things she'd do if she were president (energy, bipartisanship - it was rather confusing). She closed by addressing the controversy over her speaking fee.

"I am happy, honored, proud, to get any speaking check that was ever offered to me and to give it for the cause," said Palin. "I will live and die for this cause."

As might be expected, the speech was generally well received on the right and ridiculed on the left. But even her looniest detractor, Andrew Sullivan, said this:

If you are one of those people who think this person cannot become president of the United States, think again. 

I think that says a lot. By sheer force of her personality and charisma, Palin is slowly changing the narrative about her that arose during and after the 2008 campaign. Her personal numbers have been climbing since her book "Going Rogue" came out, and it appears to me that the more the American people see of her, the more they like her.

Mark Ambinder thinks that she sounded like a candidate for 2012. I'm not so sure. She's awfully far behind in terms of building a campaign staff, fund raising, and lining up support in key states. This is not to say she can't catch up. But I think realistically, she has to make a decision before November and between now and then, she can do some stuff that are candidate-like, but leaves her options open. That would seem to be the smart move given how far away 2012 really is.

However, the longer she waits to commit to running, the tougher it will be. Romney, Huckabee, and Pawlenty have been running almost before the cheers for Obama died down following the 2008 election. There will come a point where Palin will be squeezed because her rivals will have snapped up the best political pros, the top fund raisers, and the most important endorsements. That point arrives earlier every election. It will be interesting to see how she plays the game.