Look at it this way, Sarah Palin told a Washington journalists’ dinner Saturday night: If Joe Biden had lost, he’d be peddling a book today titled, “Going Rogaine.”

            Biden, of course, is now vice president (and with a head of thinning hair), while Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee,stopped in Washington Saturday to promote her book, “Going Rogue,” and entertain the Gridiron Club, a group of veteran Washington reporters and bureau chiefs at their annual winter dinner.

            She joked about the snow outside—“I’m lovin’ the weather—feelin’ right at home.”

            She talked about going out for a jog, “or as Newsweek calls it, a cover shoot.” And with husband Todd on the dais with her, she talked about how he thought “the Audacity of the North Slope” could have been an alternative book title.

            Palin spoke for 11 ½ minutes, poking gentle fun at the media.

            “Sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts,” she said, “and when you don’t, you end up in places like this.”

            But it had some value: “At least now I can put a face to the newspapers I do read.”

Kidding aside, sort of, “It's good to be here though, really, in front of this audience of leading journalists and intellectuals,” Palin said, “or as I like to call it, a death panel."

            She had started her day at a book signing in suburban

Washington

Before the dinner, she mingled and chatted amiably. At the banquet, she sat at he head table, and in her remarks, chided the

Washington

Palin was the featured Republican speaker and was politely received. Democrats were represented by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., known for his sharp tongue and liberal ways.

“And I’m the controversial one?” Palin laughed.