Sarah Palin back on the trail: What to watch for

 

Well, it looks like these ladies got the memo about Blue Monday.

This is Barbara Walters of ABC, shown here on the right, posing with the latest celebrity she's interviewed in her very long, diligent career of interviewing famous people about things we didn't know we wanted to know about them. Like their favorite tree, for example.

Walters is very good at it. Such conversations powered by public curiosity have proved addictive to Americans in a long tradition of popular American journalism since Dolley Madison captured the public's fascination as first lady for not one, but two, presidents -- her actual husband, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, a widower who in those days couldn't really bring his black mistress in as White House hostess.

Anyway, about the latest, biggest political celebrity ever, Walters might happen to mention some of her favorite moments with Palin every few minutes on "The View" this week, which also happens to be on ABC.

It's a match made in PR heaven: A politician whose supporters can't wait to see....

'Face the Nation' wins crucial demographic among Sunday TV talk shows

"Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer broke major ground in Sunday's most recent TV ratings face-off.

NBC's "Meet the Press," the perennial leader in the morning talk show race, still hung on to the top spot with 3.01 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. But the CBS show with Schieffer won the most viewers in the coveted 25-to-54 demographic.

"Face the Nation" had 910,000 in that group, followed by the NBC show with David Gregory at 900,000 and ABC's "This Week" at 850,000.

In overall viewers, "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos tied "Face the Nation" with 2.65 million.

"Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace remains down below, having barely broken a million on Sunday morning.

However, if you count its two reruns (the show airs later in the day on the Fox News Channel), viewership is much higher -- an additional 2.39 million watched the Fox News airings.

As usual, by the way, The Ticket publishes each weekend's guest lineup at noon Pacific time every Saturday.

-- Mark Milian

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Photo: John Paul Filo / CBS

Video clips of Sarah Palin with Oprah

As you may have heard mentioned somewhere, Sarah Palin has a book coming out next week, called "Going Rogue: An American Life."

HarperCollins says it has printed 1.5 million copies, which is a lot of books to sell, even at Amazon.com's deeply discounted $9 price. So the successful Alaska governor and unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate starts her promotional tour with a coolly polite interrogation by one of the president's biggest boosters, another big O -- Oprah. 

Here, courtesy of CBS, are two video clips from the interview, which was taped Wednesday in Chicago and will be aired nationally Monday. First, Palin's thoughts on the PR disaster of her campaign interviews with a CBS News anchor.

Also below is a list of our recent items on this subject.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

And then, of course, the obligatory question about the father of her grandchild who's selling his nude pictures to a magazine since the electrician apprentice thing didn't work out.

Talk about going rogue!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Related items:

Oprah talks about what Sarah Palin talks about

What's actually in Sarah Palin's book

Palin's roguish book tour schedule details

The secret Sarah Palin speeches we never heard

Sarah Palin breaks with GOP to endorse Conservative

-- Andrew Malcolm

Be your own independent roguish person. Click here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. And we're also over here on Facebook.

As Obama leaves for Asia, GOP gains first lead on generic congressional ballot since he took office

Time was when American presidents in domestic trouble would travel abroad to be seen positively back home as a world leader.

Then-freshman Sen. Barack Obama was hoping for a little of that back in the summer of 2008 when he staged his expensive campaign rally with an adoring throng in downtown Berlin. Alas, Germans couldn't vote for him -- or a Republican. But it looked great stateside for a few days.

After a brief media statement this morning to get him plastered on the daytime news, President Obama will make the long flight (just ask Sarah Palin) to Alaska to talk with U.S. troops at Elmendorf Air Force Base at local lunchtime while Air Force One refuels for a flight to Tokyo, beginning the president's nine-day trip across Asia. Talk about throngs.

Obama could use some good political news because as he boards the plane with his own bedroom and shower stall, word spread from the Gallup Poll folks that for the first time in over a year, more Americans say they would pick Republicans on a generic congressional ballot than a Democrat.

It's now 48% Republican and 44% Democrat. And this comes after months of the ...

Oprah talks about what Sarah Palin talks about

As we pointed out here last week when the manager of Barack Obama's never-ending presidential campaign agreed to go on the dreaded Fox News Channel to sell his book, book tours have a way of making superficial friends out of past opponents.

Thus, we will be treated Nov. 16 to the sight of Oprah Winfrey, arguably Obama's biggest celebrity booster, chatting up Sarah Palin, arguably America's most argued- over celebrity politician in recent years.

The subject, of course, is Palin's new book -- "Going Rogue: An American Life" -- which goes on sale the next day, with 1.5 million copies in print so far.

Palin took Piper and Willow with her to Chicago for the interview, which was taped at Oprah's studio Wednesday.

As The Ticket reported Wednesday night, Palin wrote on her Facebook page that the unlikely pair had such a great conversation that they ran overtime.

Which, goldarnit, means that Oprah will have extra exclusive minutes of video she'll simply have to post on Oprah.com for folks to click on. One thing exiting audience members said was that when asked if she wanted her own TV show, Palin did not say no.

And then, of course, Barbara Walters gets second crack at Palin, which will be broken into five parts on various ABC platforms midweek. What's-her-name and what's-his-name over at CBS don't seem to be on the Palin schedule just yet.

Right after Palin left the studio, Oprah (who looks shorter without makeup) made a short video here to....

...describe the O-P encounter and what all they talked about: inside the campaign, The Pregnancy, both babies and, well, pretty much everything.

Related items:

What's actually in Sarah Palin's book

Palin's roguish book tour schedule details

The secret Sarah Palin speeches we never heard

Sarah Palin breaks with GOP to endorse Conservative Party candidate

-- Andrew Malcolm

Be your own independent roguish person. Click here to get Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. And we're also over here on Facebook.

Photo: Joe Burbank / campaign pool.

Lou Dobbs abruptly quits CNN on the air -- video

CNN's outspoken and controversial anchor/commentator Lou Dobbs suddenly announced his retirement during his program today, effective immediately.

See the video below.

Dobbs, who's been particularly outspoken on the issue of illegal immigration, said the country's current problems require rigorous discussion based less on partisanship than empirical evidence. He said he'd been under pressure to take a new direction in his life (politics) and he was going to do so in an effort to help save what he called the country's beleaguered system of capitalism.

Over the past six months, it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us.

And some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving, as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most direct and honest language possible.

CNN, which isn't doing all that well in recent ratings anyway, has also been under pressure to....

Obama communications director steps down -- another win for Fox News?

First, Van Jones resigned as the Obama administration's green jobs czar after taking a pounding from Fox News' Glenn Beck. The charge: Jones signed a petition seeking an inquiry into whether the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Now comes word that Anita Dunn, under fire from Beck for saying in a speech to high schoolers that Mao Tse-tung and Mother Teresa were two of her favorite political philosophers, is leaving her post as communications director.

Dunn, handing over the reins to her assistant, Dan Pfeiffer, has led the White House charge against Fox, saying the network is not a news organization but essentially part of the Republican Party. She also said her remarks to the high school students were meant as irony.

Insiders insist Dunn is not a casualty of the Beck offensive, noting that she had never planned to stay in the role permanently, and will remain at the White House as a consultant.

Some bloggers have their doubts. Niall O'Dowd writes in Irish Central that Dunn's departure is "a victory for Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News."

But Michelle Malkin thinks that the story is much ado about nothing. As she put it, "Don’t get excited: Anita Dunn is not being thrown under the bus."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Obama political guru David Axelrod confers with Dunn at a White House swearing-in ceremony May 1. Credit: Getty Images

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Sunday shows: Steele, Kaine, McDonnell, Gorbachev

UPDATE: 2:44 p.m. Saturday NBC has updated its lineup below.)

ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos": Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; along with Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee; and a roundtable with Democrat Donna Brazile, Republican pollster Frank Luntz and ABC's Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital With Al Hunt": House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Reps. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Republican consultant Ed Rollins.

CNN's "GPS With Fareed Zakaria": Aspen Institute's Walter Isaacson, "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" author Robert Caro, columnist Peggy Noonan, "Creating Black Americans" author Nell Irvin Painter and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

CNN's "State of the Union" with John King: GOP Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Republican pollster Bill McInturff, Democratic pollster Peter Hart, James Carville, Mary Matalin and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.

"Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: McDonnell, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). With roundtable of Brit Hume, NPR's Mara Liasson, the Weekly Standard's Willliam Kristol and the New York Post's Kirsten Powers.

UPDATE: NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Govs. Haley Barbour of Mississippi (Republican) and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania (Democrat), David Brooks, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Republican strategist Ed Gillespie and NBC's Tom Brokaw. Meet the Press has added Gen. George Casey, Army Chief of Staff, to its guest lineup.

Related items:

So much Obama damage control, Axelrod even talks to Fox News

Fox News pulls huge election day ratings

The Sarah Palin speech(es) we never heard

Inside Tuesday's elections: The lessons and warnings for Obama, GOP

-- Andrew Malcolm

Why wait until Sunday for politics? Get politics all day, every day, by clicking here for Twitter alerts of each Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot.  Also on Facebook here.

Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images (McDonnell).

So much Obama damage control that David Axelrod even talks to Fox News

Here's how desperate Obama administration spokesmen were Wednesday to fill the info void they'd created by hiding away during the previous night's bad news election returns:

David Axelrod, an ex-newspaper reporter but one of the lead Obama attackers against the Fox News Channel in recent weeks, actually granted an interview to the Fox News Channel. To Major Garrett.

Obama aides knew full well in advance that election night was not going to go well for them and the commentators would connect the dots back to Obama and VP Joe Biden because, well, that pair has been so actively campaigning and money-raising all over.  

So no administration spokesmen appeared during the evening news storm. They passed word ...

Fox News pulls huge election day ratings

If you followed the suspense of Tuesday's elections, odds are you landed on Fox News.

Fox News Channel absolutely crushed the other networks in prime-time election coverage ratings.

Despite -- or perhaps thanks to -- being on the Obama White House enemies list recently.

Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time), Fox News grabbed 4.04 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The other outlets weren't even close.

MSNBC had 974,000 viewers. The CNN-owned HLN (previously CNN2 or CNN Headline News) had 842,000, and CNN trailed with 826,000.

Even with the CNN networks' combined 1.67 million viewers, it was still way behind Fox News in viewership.

Fox News even dominated in the younger 25-54 age demographic with 1.13 million. The three other networks combined don't even touch that number.

The divide between Fox News and MSNBC somewhat underscores the big win for Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia, though not the loss of a conservative congressional candidate in New York. The big numbers for Fox News, often considered a right-leaning network, demonstrates that conservatives nationwide may have kept a close eye on the East Coast competitions.

-- Mark Milian

Related items:

Inside Tuesday's election: The lessons and warnings for Obama and the GOP

Social conservatives sense a change in the air

Fox News is evil--unless you're selling an Obama book

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Photo: New Jersey Gov.-elect Chris Christie. Credit: Associated Press