How "decisive" will Palin's 2012 role actually be?

Hours after announcing Wednesdaythat she would not run for president, Sarah Palin told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren that she believes she can instead play a "decisive role" in the 2012 presidential campaign and in down-ballot races.

Palin can cite recent evidence to support that prediction. After all, there was no more coveted endorsement among Tea Party-fueled candidates in the 2010 midterms than the former Alaska governor's, and Palin did indeed play a pivotal part in many electoral outcomes.

But after a tumultuous year that saw her appeal wane among many in the Republican base, the extent of Palin's 2012 clout is now uncertain.

The 2008 vice presidential nominee had for months seriously considered throwing her hat into the ring, waffling back and forth repeatedly.

Back in August, Palin and her husband, Todd, even convened a rare in-person meeting in Arizona with five of her closest advisers to lay out the framework for how a wildly unconventional presidential campaign would be run, a SarahPAC aide told RCP.

Two sources close to Palin said that family concerns ended up being a major factor in her ultimate decision not to enter the race.

"They were anguishing about the family," one of the sources said. "It was a huge issue for them."

Despite her unimposing standing in recent polls, Palin almost certainly would have been a major factor in the race had she decided to join it.

Immediately upon becoming a candidate, Palin would have sucked up the lion's share of the political media's focus. Furthermore, she likely would have reaped the rewards of her underestimated retail politicking skills in places like Iowa, despite her lack of a political infrastructure there.

Even in the likely event that she would have fallen short of winning the nomination, Palin could have run an aggressive, insurgent-style campaign that might have cemented her status as the foremost icon of the Tea Party movement.

Instead, the former point guard who once guided her high school basketball team to the state championship will remain on the sidelines, and that doesn't sit well with many of her staunchest advocates.

If the comments on the popular pro-Palin online clearinghouse Conservatives4Palin.com are any indication, Palin will have an uphill climb in retaining the allegiance of her most faithful supporters, most of whom were certain that she would prove her critics wrong and enter the race.

"I wish her and her family well but if she truly believes that she will have an impact now, she is deluding herself," one commenter wrote.

Several Conservatives4Palin commenters who for months had insisted that "she wouldn't string us along" this far if she wasn't going to run, alluded to the length of time it took Palin to make her decision.

"She should have told us this months ago," one wrote. "She is finished."

"I love Sarah Palin. But I feel absolutely betrayed," another added. "We look like dupes now to the Palin haters."

Several commenters referred to a fundraising letter that Palin's political action committee distributed a little over two weeks ago that asked for a financial contribution in part to "show her that we support her if she decides to run."

"I don't really care to donate to SarahPAC any longer nor do I have any interest in who she is going to endorse in this contest," one commenter wrote. "She's lost a lot of credibility to me. She's not the fighter I thought she was. Oh well."

Other staunch supporters put on a brave face and expressed their continued respect and support for her on Conservatives4Palin.com and other outlets.

Michelle McCormick, who spent months living in Iowa as a self-appointed volunteer working for the group Organize4Palin, suggested that Palin has said what she needed to say to her supporters and that it was time for them to move on.

"I know some folks are going through a wide range of emotions, but as someone who has arguably put a lot of skin in this, I want them to know that I don't feel any different about Gov. Palin than I did two weeks ago," McCormick said in an email. "I have no faith in the GOP leadership and want to walk away from the party, but Gov. Palin keeps me engaged."

But the question now is: Just how many others will remain engaged with the former Alaska governor and her message, now that she has sidelined herself from the main event?

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Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.