Hugh Hewitt's How Sarah Palin Won the Election ... and Saved America Does Not As Yet Have a Publisher

In the paper today we talked to some publishing people about why more reporters out on the campaign trail aren't working on books about the election—and why the handful who are doing it think it's a good idea. One campaign book that has already bitten the dust is right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt's How Sarah Palin Won the Election ... and Saved America, which the literary agent Curtis Yates sent to publishers in New York last week.

When Media Mob reached Mr. Yates by phone on Monday, he'd already given up on trying to sell the book.

"The idea was to tell the story behind the effect that Sarah Palin has had on this election and how it is and why it is that she has basically turned the election around for McCain and why it is that she is resonating with so many people in the country," he said. "The intent was to finish the book by a week after the election, and to have it out before the inauguration."

Was that the plan regardless of who won?

"The book obviously presumed [a McCain-Palin victory]," Mr. Yates said, "but the theory was that her impact on this election will have a lasting effect regardless—that she's not gonna go anywhere, that she's just gonna be a figure in G.O.P. politics going forward."

The title of the book, Mr. Yates said, "went through a couple of different iterations."

At one point it was How Sarah Palin Won the Election. At another point it was How Sarah Palin Won the Election ... and Saved America.

"If they were to lose the election it would have just been How Sarah Palin Saved America," Mr. Yates said. "We were trying to cover our bases depending on what may happen."

Mr. Yates added that though the proposal is dead in the water for now, things may yet change.

"A lot of it depends on what happens and how things unfold in the next four weeks," he said. "If her role turns out to be as pivotal as it has been up to now, we'll see."