I have not said that Sarah Palin is an idiot, though she does say idiotic things.
She is reasonable intelligent, but abysmally ignorant. She could not tell Couric what newspapers she read, because she read none, and said the read "all" of them.. The same with magazines. She also is better looking than most female candidates, and has more charisma.Certainly more than, say, Darrell Issa.
Asking for money and implying that she would pass it on to other candidates is not illegal, since she did pass SOME on, and never said that she would not keep some, or even most, for herself. If she makes no serious effort to run for something, she could be breaking the law, though. I do not know how the law reads, but I imagine that she has a lawyer who has told her what she can get away with.