Levi Johnston's Playgirl Spread Moved Up

You have to hand it to Levi Johnston and his handlers. They seem to manage to grab the spotlight and headlines, almost at will. And with Sarah Palin out promoting her book, they appear to be in a great position to capitalize on the Palin phenomenon. In addition to the talk about the Palin book itself, now the former governor of Alaska will be bombarded with questions about Levi and his relationship with her daughter and the Palin family in general.

Levi is currently grabbing almost as much airtime as Sarah Palin, with his primary talking points being about his relationship with the former governor, her daughter, his son, and the Palin family as a whole. Johnston's much-hyped Playgirl pictorial has been pushed up by the magazine and it will now hit newsstands within the next week. Currently, photos are available online through various Playgirl outlets.

Johnston's spokesperson took some time to address Sarah Palin's interview on the Oprah Winfrey show and he had the following to offer: "We watched it together," Jones said. "He was really upset. He knew that it was all fake, even the laugh."

It would appear that Johnston and Palin are going to be engaged in a protracted media campaign in which each will be talking about the other. This is going to be great for Johnston and, although lucrative for Palin, it will ultimately hurt her image as a credible leader within the GOP. Or will it? Perhaps her defense of her family will endear her to certain segments of the Conservative Right. In any event, Levi is on a roll at the moment and Sarah Palin can't make a move without acknowledging his presence.