The maverick becomes the establishment

To state the obvious, Sarah Palin's problem now is governing. As an outsider, she's consistently and consciously rejected the brain trust of the Republican party that any other inexperienced governor-elect would have available. The challenge for her now is that she has to maintain her independence and maverick status and yet assemble a team of experienced people who will help her achieve her goals.

She took a solid step towards that with the appointment of Craig Tibbles as the head of her transition team. The guy just screams "establishment": worked for Frank Murkowski, the embodiment of the Republican establishment for the last two and a half decades and worked for John Binkley, the heir apparent to Murkowski (apparent to everyone except Murkowksi himself). His job is to convince his establishment pals to unite behind Palin and take jobs in the administration and to show Palin the ropes of governing.

Now the maverick needs to either a) make nice with the establishment or b) become the establishment. But with Randy Ruedrich apparently not going anywhere and Palin not changing her opinion of him, this could be quite the interesting story to follow.