Here’s another entry in the chronicles of Republicans already jockeying for 2012: According to Think Progress, Sarah Palin is the first speaker to be confirmed for next year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.

CPAC is a major event on the Republican circuit. This past February, it was where Mitt Romney conceded the Republican nomination to John McCain. (Romney still beat John McCain in the subsequent CPAC straw poll, taking 35 percent of the vote to McCain's 34 percent, which says something about the ideological inclinations of the attendees.)

Scheduling a speech at CPAC sends a signal about as clear as a trip to Iowa that a politician has some big dreams. Look at the other politicians CNN says have been invited to speak: Romney, Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Notice a pattern?

McCain, who was never a conservative favorite, was invited to 2008's conference, but wasn't on the list in 2007. His invite for next year seems to have been lost in the mail.