Round up the GOP’s biggest egos ... It’s time for the annual conference of the Republican Governors Association!

(OK, so maybe Newt Gingrich is working on something else and won’t be there. But all the other biggest GOP egos will be.)

The RGA will convene this morning in Miami. Its annual conference is usually a hobnob-fest where those who fancy themselves president rub shoulders with one another. Occasionally, they’ll get together on a policy issue and give Congress a nudge, but it’s mostly just an opportunity for the executives to size each other up.

There will be several discussion sessions and a few presentations from notable conservatives like Bill Bennett. But the event drawing most of the attention is Thursday morning’s session on “The GOP in Transition.“

SIDEBAR: I guess that’s the going euphemism for, “Regrouping from getting our fannies handed to us last week.“ END SIDEBAR

I will say that U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is a good pick for this particular session. Pence has made a name for himself by forging a bold path—not necessarily the path of the rest of the GOP—in Congress. Most notably, he’s broken with his leadership and with the president on a federal shield law for journalists. This is an important issue and one that Pence has pursued with equal parts passion and proficiency. (The bill passed the House, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has failed to move on the bill on his side of the Capitol. Now that President-elect Obama is on deck, maybe he can convince Reid to play ball.) In any event, Pence is a fresh face (I hate that term, by the way) who can speak with authority about the need for new ideas and new leadership within the Republican Party.

And when it comes to the GOP’s future, expect to hear lots of talk about reaching out to voters who aren’t old, white men in the South. Why? Out of the RGA’s 35 members and VIPs (page 4), only two are women.

That’s a problem.

SIDEBAR: Pet peeve alert!! You know, while the RGA is boning up on new ideas for running the country and outreach efforts to broaden its base, maybe it can brush up on its punctuation. Look at this statement. The spokesman’s name has an apostrophe in it, for Heaven’s sake: “...said RGA Executive Director Nick Ayer’s.“ AAARRRRGH!! END SIDEBAR

The RGA’s slogan is “Good politics. Good policy.“ Half and half. Not a bad split, especially for an organization of so many ambitious politicians, right?

But it doesn’t appear—at least, from the schedule, anyway—that any policy will be on tap at the RGA this week. The GOP bigwigs will hear about a breakdown of the 2008 election cycle (wait—that’s exactly what happened! Break down!); conservative pundits will lecture them about how they strayed from their roots and that’s what cost them with voters; pollster Frank Luntz will even regale them with his numbers (no word on whether he’ll bring those annoying dial-o-meters for the governors to assess his performance).

It’s going to be all politics, all the time—and that’s why the focus is on four or five attendees, in particular: Florida’s Charlie Crist, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty, South Carolina’s Mark Sanford ... and a certain lady governor from outside the Lower 48.

That’s right. Don’t put away your Sarah Palin suit just yet, Tina Fey. The woman who makes moose chili on the weekends may not be able to see Russia from her house, but she’s definitely keeping an eye on Washington.

More on Palin later today. But keep in mind that when the Republican Party considers its future, these governors are the GOP’s Fab Five.

Get ready for your close-ups, governors ... It’s only 24 months before the presidential madness starts all over again.