Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate and outside bet for a run at the presidency in 2012, is to appear on Oprah Winfrey's television chatshow, Winfrey's production company said yesterday.
Palin is booked for 16 November, the day before publication of her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life. The book is already ranked second on Amazon's bestseller list, kept from the top spot by a new Stephen King novel.
It will be the former Alaska governor's first appearance on the long-running chatshow, and could prove a tense affair, given Winfrey's very public support for Barack Obama in last year's presidential election.
Before the election Winfrey denied reports she had personally vetoed having Palin on the show. "At the beginning of this presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates," she said, adding that Palin would be "a fantastic interview" whom she would welcome once the election was over.
The rumours then switched to a supposed retaliatory snub of Winfrey, as Palin appeared on a series of rival shows.
At the end of last year, Winfrey said she had invited Palin to appear and "she didn't talk to me. But maybe she'll talk to me now that she has a book deal."
Some US commentators have speculated that recent weak ratings for Winfrey's show could have been caused in part by her support for Obama alienating conservative viewers.
