I dunno if I'd put Palin down as part of the "Old Guard" . . I think she's one of the lower branches of a potential new tree . . She's a pretty good speechmaker, and has a good following on the conservative center. More common sense based. But because of her afilliation with McCain (who ought to be in a senior citizen's home someplace where the news media can't find him) she was made into a "Clown with Lipstick" by the liberal media in the 2008 election . . And the Republican "Old Guard' allowed it.
Her speech to CPAC was pretty good and she can rally the troops, but I don't think she'd run again and I don't think it would help the cause for her to. I'll give her one thing, she calls 'em like she see's 'em on the old guard. Her shot at Rove was a harbinger of things to come for the "Good Ole Boys" in the party . . The "Kingmakers" are going to have to go away . .
There's a lot of younger and upcoming legislators and candidates in the pipeline, but they cannot be put in place by the old Guard and then be expected to make any changes . . So you need to get rid of the Puppetiers first . .
Basically, if the Senator or Representative of your district and state has been in their office for more than two terms, they no longer have YOUR best interest in mind (if they ever did) and it's time to "primary" them out . .