FOX'S VAN SUSTEREN LANDS FIRST PALIN INTERVIEW: Fox News has landed the first interview with Gov. Sarah Palin since the election, the L.A. Times reports. The interview will take place on Sunday and Monday in Alaska and will air Monday night on Greta Van Susteren's "On the Record" (10 p.m. ET), which will be broadcast live from Alaska, reports Broadcasting and Cable.

A NEW NAME FOR PALIN'S FAVORITE ‘CLOSET': The Los Angeles Times visited the downtown Anchorage consignment store Out of the Closet this week and notes it's definitely not a "thrift" shop. Gov. Palin made it famous when, amid the fiasco over her campaign wardrobe budget, she mentioned it as her favorite place to shop. The downside of all the publicity: Closet owner Ellen Arvold will have to change the store's name.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operates the Out of the Closet thrift store chains in California and Florida, notified Arvold that she was violating its federally registered trademark. "I can't afford to fight them," Arvold said. "I'll have to change the name. So we'll probably call ourselves In and Out of the Closet or something. Back in the Closet?"

Also: It's not easy being Palin's favorite store (Wall Street Journal)

WITH THE CLOTHING OFF THE JET, FUEL MILEAGE IMPROVES: JetBlue, owner of Gov. Palin's chartered campaign jet, tells USA Today that after dropping Palin off in Anchorage on Wednesday night, the crew set a world distance record for an Embraer E190 by flying nonstop to Buffalo, N.Y.

PALIN AS GAY ICON: The governor joined -- at least for a short time -- the likes of Madonna, Joan Crawford and Joan Rivers in gay hearts and minds, Rohin Guha writes for Black Book.

Gay icons of yore led darkly comic lives defined by megalomania, vanity and quirky catchphrases. And the most enduring gay icons infiltrate mainstream popular culture. Let's consider Sarah Palin in this mold. Megalomania? Check. Vanity? Check and check. Disconnect with the real world? You betcha. And who could ever exhaust her arsenal of hokey Palin-isms? Heck, she's even gone out in a bang, with one final moment of hot-messery perfectly geared for crossover appeal.

Also: Don't you love that Sarah Palin buys her clothes at a store called Out of the Closet? (Washington Blade)

WHAT ALASKA LEARNED ABOUT PALIN: Kaylene Johnson, author of the now-best-selling Palin biography "Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Politics Upside Down," writes in a piece for CNN that Palin the hyper-partisan campaigner surprised Alaskans.

NEW CALL FOR STEVENS' OUSTER: Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, one of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate, is calling for the expulsion of Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens from the Senate, Politico reports. Republicans are "quietly fretting" over what to do if Stevens returns to Washington, reports Congressional Quarterly.

PALIN'S 'MOLE AT THE TIMES': The Daily Beast looks at how conservative New York Times columnist William Kristol, an early booster of Gov. Palin for the Republican vice-presidential ticket, seemed to become a Palin team insider as the campaign wore on.

DEFENDING PALIN: Supporters of Gov. Palin are stepping up as criticisms of her cascade from unnamed sources in John McCain's presidential campaign. Read a wrap-up on the bad press here and far-left satirical blogger Wonkette's review here. The Daily News' politics blog is excerpting the Newsweek reports that sent the blame game soaring here.

Scapegoat Palin (CNN, "Cutting Through the Bull")

Sarah Palin is who she is, which is why I find it so stunning that the very people who introduced us to her, who told us she would make a great vice president, have now turned on her with a vengeance.

The empress's clothes (Washington Post blog)

Thanks, guys. First you use the woman to energize your lackluster campaign, hoping her sex appeal -- enhanced by the wardrobe you had her buy and wear -- would win you votes. Now that you've lost your gamble, you take it all back. Don't you think you owe her at least the shirt on her back? ... The true act and attitude of sexism in this election was the selection of Palin in the first place.

Palin a gift to feminism (The Nation)

While Palin did not win the Hillary vote, the love she got from Republican women, including very conservative, traditional women, shows that what I like to call the feminism of everyday life is taking hold across the spectrum.

Palin legacy: Sexism in reporting (OpEdNews)

During McCain's concession speech it was clear: The McCain campaign had used Palin, the stunt didn't work and now they were discarding her. She sought eye contact and was ignored, was made to stand aside like a child in timeout. She looked lost, an actor on an unfamiliar play bereft of the script and stage manager. So thoroughly out of her element and so plainly cast aside, she seemed pitiful.

Unconscionable: McCain staffers attempt to destroy Palin (Rush Limbaugh)

They are dumping all over Sarah Palin because she is conservative. ... There are country club blue-blood moderate Republicans who want nothing to do with a firebrand conservative in the Republican Party who can fire up people, who can inspire people, who can motivate them.

Pounding Palin (Fox News, "On the Record w/ Greta")

I don't agree with her on everything, that's for sure. But when I spoke to her, she was right there, fast with the answers, and smart. And I've just been appalled at the mistreatment. Disagree with her and hit her on the policies and hit her hard, but the personal stuff...

"She's anything but a diva" (Elisabeth Hasselbeck on ABC's "The View")

I'd like to think that she truly did a great job for that campaign, as well as anyone could. She ignited the base. She gave a different face to feminism -- a conservative woman.

A few things you'd have to believe to believe what McCain staffers say about Palin (Weekly Standard blog)

Disgruntled McCain staffers not only require you to believe that the chief executive of the state of Alaska knew nothing about one of her state's most important trading partners (Canada), but that she was equally oblivious to the economic winds affecting the industry that provided her very own livelihood.

HOMECOMING: The Alaska blogger known as AK Muckraker writes tongue-in-cheek about braving the cold and joining an adoring crowd at the airport as Gov. Palin flew home Wednesday night. Photos included.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR PALIN? Worldwide interest in the governor's fate isn't fading with the election results. She's back in Alaska but hiding from reporters as she reportedly receives interview requests from around the world and, presumably, plots her political future.

Reading Palin's tea leaves (NPR's "Morning Edition")

Michael Carey, Daily News columnist and host of KAKM/KSKA's "Anchorage Edition," tells NPR, "She's really going to have to improve her performance on the policy and intellectual end of it to be taken seriously. She's really won the role of queen of NASCAR - there's no question about that. But getting a larger foothold in the electorate ... seems like it's going to be very difficult to do unless she grows and changes."

Palin's tricky path back (Politico)

Amid the wreckage from the Obama-led Democratic hurricane, there is no obvious route back to the national spotlight for Palin or easy course to chart for a possible presidential run in 2012.

Palin returns to a chillier Alaska (L.A. Times)

How she gets through the next few months is crucial to her future, analysts say, since Palin's return to Alaska is an inevitable costume change before her national relaunch -- probably in 2012, or sooner if she decides to run for the U.S. Senate.

Can Palin, the comet that ignited social conservatives but left moderates cold, lead the GOP? (The Associated Press)

Grover Norquist, a leading conservative and president of Americans for Tax Reform, called Palin "one of five or six people who is a plausible candidate for president in 2012. She's in the top tier, but she's not next in line."

Rogue no more: What Sarah Palin can do next (Slate)

The fundamentals of Sarah Palin are strong. Her conservative detractors -- Colin Powell, David Brooks, and Christopher Buckley among them -- were put off not by her personality but rather her lack of knowledge about certain national and foreign-policy issues. Such deficiencies can be addressed easily.

Palin's future uncertain amid GOP fray (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Now, more than any time I can remember, there is a vacuum of leadership in the Republican Party," said Mike Franc, a vice president for government relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. "And she is in the mix."

HOMER SALOON BRAVES THE COLD: The colorful Salty Dawg saloon on the Homer Spit is still open. After 25 years taking winter off, owners of the landmark drinking spot say it will stay open this winter, reports the Homer Tribune.

Manager Hollyn Smith, says staying open will allow the Dawg to offer locals and other Alaskans more entertainment. In the summer, the historic bar gets so much traffic, Homer people can't always find a seat. Winter is a chance to "slow down," to Monday-night football and sea shanty tales about close calls at sea.

"People have great stories. It's a chance to tell sea stories and there are so many great ones about the Dawg," Smith said. "Usually we wait until spring, but I think it would be great to hear them in the winter."

Return to Alaska Newsreader through the day for new links.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

Juror No. 11 in Stevens trial bares all (Legal Times)

Alaska turnout, results raise questions (Washington Post)

What in the hell happened in Alaska? (FiveThirtyEight)

Internal battles divide McCain, Palin camps (The New York Times)

Hackers and Palin spending sprees (Newsweek)

Ayers decries GOP tactics, Palin charge (Washington Post)

Palin's 2012 Playbook (Newsweek)

Sarah Palin, last of the culture warriors (Washington Post)

More foreign relations for Kikkan Randall (Faster Skier)