Inside the Beltway

PALIN THANKSGIVING

The Palin family agenda for Thanksgiving Day? Sarah Palin will be running — not for office, but for charity. According to a Twitter message, Mrs. Palin and a large phalanx of her relatives will run in a 3.1-mile “Turkey Trot” to benefit the Red Cross in Kennewick, Wash. The family is registered as Team Alaska. It’s a big race: 3,000 runners are expected, and it could get a lot bigger with the Palin cachet, plus the curious press.

Part two: The big family dinner will be in the home of Katie Johnson, an aunt who lives in nearby Richland.

Part three: No mention of Levi Johnston, the estranged father of Mrs. Palin’s grandchild or whether he’ll be in attendance. Mrs. Palin’s abbreviated Thanksgiving message to the public, sent from her phone: “Much 2 b thankful 4 as Americans, most free people on earth! More opportunity 4 happiness/health/prosperity thx to our liberating Constitution.”

CHICAGO FEVER

The 2012 Republican presidential convention is already looming as a potential symbol for a newly energized party. And hey, why not stage the big doings in Chi-town?

William J. Kelly, running as a Republican for comptroller of Illinois, tells Inside the Beltway that the Windy City suffered after losing a bid to host the 2016 Olympics, despite rigorous efforts from President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. But there’s a little more to it than that.

“What better symbol of the GOP’s comeback in 2012 than to have the Republican National Convention in Barack Obama’s backyard,” Mr. Kelly says. “It just doesn’t get any better than that.”

The brusque cable sportscaster — arrested 15 years ago for heckling President Clinton at a public event — recently made an unorthodox appeal for a political endorsement - seeking the blessing of Todd Palin, rather than his famous spouse.

“Todd Palin wins sled dog races. That’s a guy I want on my side,” Mr. Kelly observes.

CHANNELING OBAMA

Hollywood’s finest couldn’t have dreamed up a better equation: President Obama + big Afghanistan announcement + West Point = Buzz.

Indeed, NBC is bumping Jay Leno off the air during Mr. Obama’s speech Tuesday night outlining the president’s likely intentions to ramp up the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. Then there’s the packaging of the moment. Nobody’s calling it “Search For the Off-Ramp.” Yet.

Networks are taking the high road. CNN, for example, has titled its coverage “Decision: Afghanistan” and will offer almost 12 hours of material - the live speech followed by analysis by Wolf Blitzer, John King, AndersonCooper and others.

And though she may pine to retire from daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey has ascended to another level: ABC will broadcast “Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Winfrey Special” on Dec. 13, described by the network as an “intimate, informative and entertaining hourlong special.”

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