Palin's Jackpot

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Steve Pope /Landov Why did Alaska’s ambitious governor ditch a lame-duck $125,000 job? Between a $4 million book deal, speeches, and a possible TV gig, The Daily Beast’s Duff McDonald calculates up to 20 million reasons a year.

Lost in the debate over why Sarah Palin resigned—whether she’s tired of it all or because she’s a Machiavellian genius—is the most American of ideas: This woman is poised to turn her fame into some cold, hard cash.

She’s already got a book deal, agents in both New York and Los Angeles are scrambling to line up some sort of talk show for her, and you can bet if the journalism major-turned-governor decides to write a column, that thing would practically syndicate itself.

What does the brand of Palin Inc. stand to make in the next year? More than most liberals would care to know.

A publishing insider tells The Daily Beast that Palin’s book advance alone is about $4 million.

THE BOOK
Palin signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish a book in 2010 that will include a discussion of politics, religion, Bristol’s baby, and the infamous Katie Couric interviews. She’ll surely add in a shot or two at David Letterman. Rumors circulated last year that she and her D.C. attorney Robert Barnett were looking for $11 million for the book. A publishing insider tells The Daily Beast that Palin’s advance is closer to $4 million.

THE SPEAKING FEES
You know the red-meat crowds love Palin. So how much will people be willing to pay to have her come speak? Estimates on this one come in all over the map, but the head of one of the country’s largest speaker’s agencies estimates she’ll garner somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000 a speech when she hits the circuit. Assuming she can squeeze in about 50 speeches over the next year, that comes out to $3.75 million to $5 million just for doing what she does best—babbling away about Alaska, God, oil, and herself (and, you betcha, she can throw in a wink or two for free).

THE TV/RADIO SHOW
There’s been no shortage of chatter about whether Palin is ready to star on her own Fox talk show. (Fox and HarperCollins are both owned by Rupert Murdoch, and Sarah Palin is exactly his type of gal. She’s like a folksy, daft version of another brassy lady he briefly employed, Judith Regan.)

But what kind of money could she command? Meredith Vieira apparently got $40 million over four years to co-host the Today show, but she’s an experienced television hand. Palin’s closest talk-show comparison in both brains and political leanings is Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View, who we estimate makes about $5 million a year. Let’s split the difference: $7.5 million annually.

Unlike the cliché about people with a face for radio, Palin actually looks good on camera, but she might opt for the relative ease of a radio show in any case. She won’t command Howard Stern-like pay of $500 million over five years—young men like to look at Palin, not listen to her—nor will she command the $50 million that Rush Limbaugh pulls down annually. Palin is Rush-lite (in more ways than one), so let’s give her $10 million for this option. If Palin hits the airwaves, then—TV or radio—she could pull down $7.5 million to $10 million for her troubles.

THE SYNDICATED COLUMN
If Palin decides to put that journalism degree of hers to good use and become a syndicated columnist, she could be the right wing’s answer to Maureen Dowd. Both have senses of humor that enrage the other side of the aisle, and you can bet Palin would play just as well outside the Northeast as Dowd does within it. Jack Newcombe of the Los Angeles-based Creators Syndicate puts it simply: “We’d love to have her.” Estimated income: $250,000.

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