There’s more than just a few rumors out there that conservatives and Sarah Palin fans are planning for a Sarah Palin Presidential run in 2012.  The thinking among these "Saranistas" is, if McCain loses this year’s election, Palin not only could emerge as the party’s 2012 nominee, but she could be the GOP’s next Ronald Reagan.

In fact, one Republican even called Palin "the new Ronald Reagan."

There’s also a grassroots effort cropping up on the Web to put Palin in the White House in 2012.

A Google search of "Sarah Palin for president" turns up pages of results. Many sites like Palintology.com and palinforpresidentblog.com are championing her candidacy, and there are even some YouTube "ads" out there promoting her 2012 candidacy.

Among the chattering class, the positioning of Sarah as the Republican Party’s standard bearer for the future has already started:

"Win or lose, there is a ready-made conservative candidate waiting in the wings. Sarah Palin is not the new Iain Duncan Smith, she is the new Ronald Reagan," Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, told the U.K.’s Sunday Telegraph. 

David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, has said Palin isn’t ready to be president now or then, but he still acknowledged that she likely could be the nominee four years from now. Palin "emerges from this election as the probable frontrunner for the 2012 nomination," he told the Telegraph. "Her supporters vastly outnumber her critics. But it will be extremely difficult for her to win the presidency."

Frum also told New York magazine in an article for this week’s issue that, "The people who criticize her do so because we have some hope that we could be in contention in 2012, and there’s some risk that she could be the party’s nominee, and she’d probably lose – and even if by some miracle she won, she’d be a terrible president."

Not everyone is so pessimistic about her chances, however.

One key Republican promoting a Palin run in 2012 tells USA Today: "As of today, Palin is the top contender. She clearly has the potential to be a winning top-of-the-ticket candidate: solid character, solid values, fire in the belly, etc. But four years is a long time. Neither [Mitt] Romney, [Mike] Huckabee, or others have the complete package. If Palin spends a bit more time traveling overseas and domestically, broadening her horizons, and wins re-election in Alaska in 2010, she will be the nominee in 2012."

Greg Mueller, who was a senior aide in the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes, told Politico that if John McCain loses the general election to Barack Obama next week, Palin "has absolutely earned a right to run in 2012." He said Palin has given conservatives "hope" and "something to believe in."

But even if McCain only serves one term – Palin could also try for her own bid. By then, she would have had four years of experience as a vice president and would be much more knowledgeable of not just Washington, but the world. If McCain loses, Palin could win re-election in Alaska, raise her national profile by, perhaps, take a leadership position in the Republican Governors Association or the National Governors Association, and better prepare herself in the next four years.

Palin is now trying to break free of her campaign handlers’ constraints that have restricted what she talks about, when, and to whom, since McCain announced his vice presidential pick. Even one McCain insider said the Alaska governor is "playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party.”

Palin has repeatedly stated that she would be more aggressive in making the case against Obama that the McCain campaign has – which has made many conservatives who say McCain has been too soft on Obama even more wild about her future role in the party - while she’s also distanced herself from campaign tactics such as robocalls.

One National Review post written after Palin’s much-anticipated debate against Sen. Joe Biden, said: "She’s a natural saleswoman. She certainly saved her prospects for national office in 2012, if she so chooses. She certainly, my guess is, reenergized the GOP base and independents, centrists, and undecided, if they’re honest with themselves, will conclude that they witnessed an impressive woman tonight."