Sarah Palin turning into a media superstar

WASHINGTON — Without leaving home, Sarah Palin will be able to reach much of her political base, courtesy of a soon-to-be be built television studio in her living room paid for by her newest media patron, Fox News. From her house in Wasilla, Alaska, Palin also sends missives to 1.3 million Facebook "fans," writes newspaper columns, Tweets and signs copies of her book for donors.

She reads daily e-mail briefings on domestic and foreign policy from a small group of advisers who remained loyal after her tumultuous vice presidential campaign in 2008. And though she has fashioned an image as an anti-establishment conservative, Palin also speaks regularly to a bipartisan nobility of Washington insiders who have helped enrich her financially and position her on the national political stage.

Palin is becoming increasingly vocal and visible. This weekend she delivered a paid speech to the Salina, Kan., Chamber of Commerce on Friday; is headlining the Tea Party convention in Nashville on Saturday; and appearing on behalf of the re-election campaign of Gov. Rick Perry of Texas in Houston on Sunday.

This latest foray "Outside" (Alaskan slang for the "Lower 48") culminates a week in which she achieved a typical run of multimedia ubiquity: She e-mailed a high-profile endorsement of Dr. Rand Paul in a Republican Senate primary in Kentucky. She called — via Facebook — for the resignation of the White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for using the term "retarded" and announced — via a column in USA Today — that she would attend a Tea Party gathering next month in Searchlight, Nev., the hometown of the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid.

Her growing cast of advisers and support system could be working in the service of any number of goals: a possible presidential run, a de facto role as the leader of the tea party movement or a lucrative career as a roving media entity — or all of the above.

Palin represents a new breed of unelected public official operating in an environment in which politics, news media and celebrity sometimes seem to fuse. Whether she ever runs for anything else, Palin has already achieved the status that has become an end in itself: access to an electronic bully pulpit, a staff to guide her, an enormous income and none of the bother or accountability of having to govern or campaign for office.