For someone widely credited with helping to shape the Republican field in the midterm elections, it was curious who didn't appear with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Thursday when she spoke to a wildly enthusiastic audience in San Jose: Any major Republican Party candidates.

Or any Republican candidates at all, for that matter.

Palin, who resigned as governor 2 1/2 years into her term, delivered a 40-minute speech - complete with a trademark "You betcha!" - and answered a few questions afterward before a less-than-capacity audience of 1,400 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Her paid appearance was sponsored by the conservative Liberty and Freedom Foundation.

With husband Todd standing offstage - he'd just driven the family motor home down from Alaska - it was Palin's first stop in her three-city swing through California over the next few days, a pilgrimage that appears designed both to raise her political profile, in preparation for a possible 2012 presidential run, and enthusiasm for GOP candidates.

Not that she mentioned any Republicans by name Tuesday. Not even Republican Senate nominee Carly Fiorina, endorsed by Palin last spring in California's GOP primary. Fiorina and GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (who Palin has not endorsed) were invited to attend Thursday, but declined, said event spokesman J.D. Gordon, because of scheduling conflicts. Neither is expected to join Palin in Sacramento today or Anaheim on Saturday.

Analysts say many Republicans candidates - particularly those in blue states like California - don't know quite what the Palin effect is yet. They don't want to alienate her and her rabid followers by shunning her, but they don't want to risk alienating undecided moderate voters by linking arms with her either.

A CBS News poll this week found that 54 percent of Americans had an unfavorable view of Palin and only 38 percent viewed her favorably. The poll found those support levels nearly reversed for President Obama. A Bloomberg National Poll last week had Obama handily defeating Palin in a 2012 presidential matchup: the president drew 51 percent to 35 percent for Palin.

Can she deliver?

While the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee has flexed her political muscle by endorsing some conservative candidates who have won Republican primaries from Delaware to Alaska this year, the jury is still out on what Palin's blessing can deliver in a general election, when voters are not uniformly conservative. In California, Palin's endorsement of Fiorina in the spring helped reshape the Senate primary, giving the first-time candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO credibility with conservative voters who didn't know much about her.

"In a low-turnout election, which it looks like this one will be, that could help," said Richard Fox, a professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and author of "It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office."

"But I think nobody in a close race would want to appear with her," Fox said. "She is still very polarizing."

But there is little doubt what Palin's next move is.

Between paid speeches like this one before conservative audiences (organizers said they weren't "at liberty to discuss" Palin's fee); the dozen candidates her political action committee has helped, and appearances like the one this Saturday in Anaheim for the Republican National Committee, "Palin is clearly positioning herself for a run at the presidency and she is not going to be able to totally avoid blue territory," said Geoffrey Dunn, author of "The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power," which will be published in February.

She has maintained her high profile without major funding or the help of what she refers to as the "lamestream media," preferring instead to issue pronouncements on her Facebook page.

The vast majority of Thursday's speech was a critique of Obama's policies, from the new health care law to the stimulus package - as well as digs at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for pushing a liberal agenda.She also jabbed union bosses as self-interested "thugs."

The speech was breezy, frequently self-deprecating and full of Palin's unique imagery: She dismissed longtime office-holders like Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and Sen. Barbara Boxer as leaders who "act like they're permanent residents of a unicorn ranch in fantasyland."

Or, when she urged the audience to vote because Nov. 2 "is right around the corner. I can see it from my house," a reference to her claim during the 2008 campaign to be able to see Russia from Alaska.

Short on specifics

While she was long on critiques, she was short on policy solutions other than asking the audience to elect leaders who "can empower us and let her (America's) spirit soar again."

"We need leaders who will stand up for the little guy and listen once again," she said.

And she was clearly having fun, alternately reading from a prepared text and then launching into long, run-on sentences that sounded more like a real person and less like a politician. Often, she would riff on what the audience would yell out.

"Throw the bums out," one man yelled out.

"Amen, brother," Palin said. "You betcha."