Sarah Palin Signs Multi-Year Deal With Fox News

This post gives me a chance to report on two developments in the news today. I was thinking about putting up a post on Tucker Carlson's new website the Daily Caller. Carlson hired Jim Treacher, and he's linked my blog a bunch on Twitter, so I thought I've give him a shout out. Jim's new blog is the "DC Trawler." You can read all about it here.

I first heard about Carlson's new online start-up last week. I read somewhere that the Daily Caller was going to be like the right's Huffington Post. Well, if this frontpage screenshot is any indication, I'd say the early reports were on the money -- and I kinda love those huge banner headlines with the big pictures at HuffPo, even though it's a leftist site that I don't read or link. So, let's welcome the Daily Caller, where the first big story I'm linking is the news that Sarah Palin has signed on at Fox for a multi-year contract as a political commentator.

Checking Memeorandum, the Palin story is leading the headlines there. Howard Kurtz and Ed Morrissey have reports, and here's this from the latter, which sounds about right:

It’s a good move on Palin’s part ....

However, a multi-year deal may mean that Palin will wait to run for higher office. She could either go for the Senate or the presidency next, but either way, she’d have to start building a campaign no later than a year from now. Media outlets generally cut off analysts when they start building campaigns to avoid the necessity of giving opponents free air time for responses. A multiyear deal doesn’t preclude the possibility of entering into a campaign in 2011, but it indicates that Palin isn’t yet envisioning such a step.

That’s not necessarily a bad idea anyway. Palin is young and has plenty of opportunity to run for office, with 2016, 2020, and 2024 all being very realistic for her in terms of presidential campaigns. The Fox appearances will give her an opportunity to hone her craft while keeping expectations in check. Taking her time would be a smart move, and at least since her resignation from office, Palin has been making a series of smart moves.

I'd add though, that even with the Fox News gig, Palin could lose her "it girl of the moment" status, and thus the kind of popular momentum she'll need to make a run for the GOP nomination.

In any case, like Morrissey, I too suggested that Palin might do well to wait until later election cycles before making a White House bid. See, "Can Palin Win the 2012 GOP Nomination?" But having a year of developments since the Democrats took power, a Palin run for the nomination looks better than ever at this point. So, it's got to be a tough call on Palin's part to perhaps delay the big presidential run, at least if there's indeed a multiple-year deal in the works that puts a crimp on her campaign style. (Howard Kurtz above thinks the move's going to help Palin get situated for 2012, so this is all pretty much guesswork.)

I think rank-and-file conservatives are winners all around, in any case, as now they'll have Palin on Fox News leading the media charge against the Democratic-Obamunists.

More later ...