A lightly-sourced article in Daily Finance has cast doubts on the profitability of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" for Harper Collins.

If Palin's advance is as high as $5 million, then HarperCollins wlll need to sell more than 400,000 copies of Going Rogue to cover the advance and expenses for marketing and overhead.

The article produces no evidence to suggest that the book won't see at least that many. There are already 40,000 pre-order at Amazon (mine among them...).

I don't generally waste my time with political autobiographies, because politicians have so much to protect, its rather silly to except a candid memoir. Bill Clinton's massive tome sits on my library shelf unread--a gift used to shim a broken couch rather than for its intended purpose of edifying me into the liberal fold.

Palin's book reminds me of the Monty Python introduction, "...and now for something completely different.." She in naturally candid and at this point in her career, she doesn't owe anything to anyone. Unlike say, Joe Biden or Barack Obama--Sarah Palin's public image isn't the result of political myth-making. She is that rare individual who has achieved political success as a natural outgrowth of her own identity and experience.

Just as importantly, she doesn't owe anything to anyone. She's left Alaska politics behind, and didn't spend long enough in office to have a legacy she needs to defend. She came to national attention in a failed candidacy, so she doesn't have to protect anything there either.

On the other hand, she is running for high political office, so some gilding is to be expected, but far less than we would see for a politician trying to protect a legacy.

A book like this has the potential to cross over into reader constituencies others never would. The absolutely panicked reaction of the left to her selection as McCain's running mate illustrates the point--she appeals. Every woman I know went absolutely ga-ga over her because unlike say--Hillary Clinton, the ladies could identify with her.

A lot of people who would never even buy a book by a politician are going to buy hers, which is why a mainstream publisher like Harper picked up the publication rights. No one really expects her book to sell along partisan lines because there is just as much curiosity about her on the left as there is on the right. Palin is in her mid-forties--she can be expected to be a political force for a couple of decades at least. It pays to know your enemy.

No less than three books about Sarah Palin are due to be published at the same time--including a parody. For all the bad-mouthing, a lot of people are hitching their wagons to this particular engine