All but guaranteeing a ratings bonanza, Jay Leno has booked Sarah Palin for his first week back on The Tonight Show. In the aftermath of his feud with Conan O'Brien, many wondered if Leno could score the same kind of star power he used to. (Catch up on the late-night shake-up here.) Now he aims to prove the naysayers wrong.

But how did Leno do it? Palin is notoriously hard to book, and this will be her first late-night interview. She may have something to gain from the fact that Leno, as The New York Times' Bill Carter points out, is competing with David Letterman "with whom [Palin] has engaged in a long-standing feud." Not only has Letterman mocked her style (saying she looks like a "slutty flight attendant"), but he's also taken a swipe at her daughter, joking that during a Yankees game she "was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." That of course prompted an angry message from Palin's Facebook page in which she accused him of "perverted comments" aimed at her 14-year-old daughter, Willow. Letterman insisted he was talking about Palin's older daughter Bristol and he delivered this clarification:

Is Palin's appearance all a plot to get back at Letterman?

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John Hudson