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If Blagojevich gets a book deal, why not Bikini Girl?

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Impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, it was reported Monday, has signed a publishing deal with Phoenix Books. Blagojevich became a national figure when he was arrested in December 2008 for corruption, for allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. His as-yet-unwritten book will be about the ‘dark side of politics.’ As they say, write what you know.

There had been speculation that a book deal was in the works for the former governor, but around here we didn’t expect the taker to be quite as downmarket as Phoenix Books. The publisher, which reportedly offered Blagojevich a ‘six-figure’ deal (nobody has specified where the decimal point might be), is known for sensational titles like ‘The Price: My Rise and Fall as Natalia, New York’s #1 Escort’ and ‘Interview with a Cannibal: The Secret Life of the Monster of Rotenburg.’ Is also published memoirs from such D-minus listers as Eminem’s mother and Dee Dee Ramone’s first wife.

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If there was any chance that Blagojevich might be taken seriously in politics again, this book deal seems designed to torpedo it. But does anyone really want to buy a book by the corrupt politician with the funny hair? Aren’t there countless other fringe celebrities with more interesting stories to tell?

If Blagojevich has a lucrative book deal, why not:

Bikini Girl. Katrina Darrel is known for showing up to this season’s ‘American Idol’ tryouts in nothing but a skimpy two-piece. ‘I mean, I’ve been in the business a really long time,’ the 20-year-old told the L.A. Times. ‘I did a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie.’ The guy who was arrested for putting his cat in a bong. Omaha, Neb., resident Acea Shoemaker was, according to deputies, ‘smoking marijuana through a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped, plastic glass box in which the cat had been stuffed.’ He wanted to calm his frenetic kitty, who officers described as ‘dazed.’ Steve-O. The former ‘Jackass’ wingman has done crazy physical stunts, been arrested for assault and tried to launch a rap career. And now he’s going to be on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ John Cafferty. Remember 1983, when John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band made the Billboard Charts with ‘On the Dark Side,’ from the soundtrack to ‘Eddie and the Cruisers’? You remember, don’t you? Don’t you?

Who would you add to the before-Blago list?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo (left): Rod Blagojevich. Credit: Phil Velasquez / Tribune.

Photo (right): ‘Bikini Girl’ Katrina Darrel. Credit: Fox

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