Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin energized and rallied thousands of conservative activists with a thunderous attack on President Obama Saturday, closing out the Conservative Political Action Conference by uniting the crowd in a way that none of the party’s presidential contenders could.

Palin, the Republican Party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee and Tea Party darling, didn’t endorse any of the four contenders still vying for the right to challenge Obama in the fall, but she made clear that she doesn’t think it should be the man now favored to win, Mitt Romney.