The Political Whore

By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent

There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has every intention in the world of running for higher office. You could see it in her twinkling eye as she made the announcement that she was stepping down as governor of Alaska.

Will she host her own talk show? Will she get a book deal? Speculation has run rampant, but the consensus among the political news commentators seems to be that she is gearing up for a run for president in 2012.

Oddly enough, this news is exciting for many Republicans. To quite a large sect of the conservative base, Palin is a rock star. She is the answer to their prayers, and the savior of the Party.

Such an analysis is misguided, at best. More accurately, it could be described as delusional.

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Here’s Nos. 3 & 4 on our countdown. Tina Fey could have comprised an entire Top 10 list with her imitation of Sarah Palin, but this was our fave, with guest Will Ferrell. The best political video of 2008 will be on this blog tomorrow, New Year’s Eve.

4. Joe the Plumber

3. SNL: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Will Ferrell as an endorsing President Bush

Today marks the first day of the Tampa Tribune’s new Mon-Fri one-news-section era. PIck one up and check it out and let me know what you think. In the meantime, here’s today’s top political and media news headlines, with updates daily (box, right, you know):

• They lined up before dawn to see their political hero,
• My vote for clueless teen of the year goes to this kid.
• And Sarah can raise some campaign cash, darn tootin’.
• Jim Greer, persona non grata.
• Seriously, an item in the Breaking News tbo.com blog about the Weinermobile coming to Lakeland?!?
• Max Hardcore gets hardcore prison time for porno conviction.
• Gore won in 2000 (again).
• Best tweet of the day: “laughterkey: Warning to all moose in the Clearwater area. SHE’S HERE. Run for your life.”
• Joe Biden plays the Sun Dome at USF on Wednesday.
• The I-4 corridor.
• Pulling apart the Yes on 2 arguments like a roasted chicken from Publix.
• The 7th Annual Blogger Boobie-thon (all for a good cause); local Out in Left Field once again bares it all for the cause, but you gotta pay to see it.
• Yes, the Tina Fey turn as Palin on SNL was hilarious, but for those who stayed tuned for another 5 minutes got treated to another example of why Kristen Wiig is the funniest player on the show today:

Greatest last five seconds to a crappy cell phone video ever!

• Yesterday’s Obama race speech was a hit.
• Bush: Iraq was was worth it. (In fairness to the Prez, what’s he supposed to say?)
• Mediocre radio slugfest: MJ battles Bubba.
• Much to Joe Francis’ delight, Ashley Alexandra Dupre went “Wild” four years ago.
• Not a Scientologist: Will Smith.
• Tina Fey smacks The Daily Show.
• R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke.
• R.I.P. Anthony Minghella.