“It will be an event,” that’s for sure.

Coming Nov. 16 to a small screen near you: Sarah Palin, former Republican vice presidential nominee, conservative rockstar, and the Queen of Facebook, will take to The Oprah Winfrey Show to face off against the Queen of Daytime Television (and Obama champion) to promote her new book slated to drop the following day.

Oprah is billing it as a “world exclusive,” and from the looks of things, the showdown will most certainly live up to the hype — at least in terms of out-of-this-universe ratings during the all-important November sweeps period.

Should Sarah Palin be truly serious about pursuing a 2012 run for the presidency, the Oprah interview will provide some much-needed clarification on that subject; that’s what makes their sit-down must-see TV. Not that Palin will make any sort of definitive announcement, but politicos ’round the nation will be tuning in to see how she handles herself in this big blast back into the public eye.

What are we to expect from the highly anticipated appearance? One given: The mainstream media will undoubtedly seek to raise expectations for the interview to near-astronomical levels, hoping for another Couric-esque flop on Palin’s part but at a minimum setting the former governor up for a “about as expected” verdict should she hit the ball out of Harpo Park.

So what exactly does Palin stand to gain by appearing on Winfrey’s show? After all, it was just last December that Winfrey refused to have the veep on her show, citing (albeit indirectly) personal bias towards Obama as the motivating factor in the blackout. “I said I would be happy to talk to Sarah Palin when the election was over,” she said, unwilling to provide a PR spark to the McCain campaign after lending her highly touted endorsement to the Democratic candidate.

For one: money. “Going Rogue” has, not surprisingly, leapt to the top of the internet pre-order charts, going so far as to provoke an no-holds-barred price-slashing war between online book giants Amazon and Walmart.

But more than that, the Oprah sit-down provides Palin with a chance to re-reintroduce herself to a captive American public. Her target audience will not be conservatives, who by and large sympathize with her and are already itching to hop on the Palin express, should she decide to run in 2012. Neither will she be out to win over liberals, who will in all certainty tune in with hoping to witness a flame-out, crash, and burn. It’s independents Palin should be worried about, whose unfavorables stand at 48% in the most recent Gallup approval poll.

Winfrey might be the one who needs this interview most. As of July, ratings for her show had dropped an astonishing 32% over a five-year span, a fall no doubt precipitated by her foray into partisan Washington politics. Her performance will be as much in the spotlight as Palin’s and will surely be scrutinized by news outlets of all sides and stripes. Confronting Palin in a harsh or condescending way is bound to incite a backlash of gargantuan proportions from a conservative population fed up with the media’s attacks on the governor. Thus, any attempts by Winfrey to score political points would be highly disadvantageous to her already damaged brand. As a media mogul and television titan, Oprah Winfrey is much too smart/savvy to dig herself a deeper hole by engaging Palin in a potentially injurious manner.

As a result, expect the back-and-forth to be limited to largely personal issues (to answer Allahpundit’s question). That’s not to say the interview will be without fireworks. Aside from the TBA content of Palin’s tell-all, Winfrey has a wealth of intensely touchy and acute subjects to draw her questions from: the mistreatment and post-election bashing of Palin by McCain staffers, her strained relationship with GOP/Washington elite, the smears leveled upon her regarding Bristol’s pregnancy by the liberal blogosphere…not to mention Levi Johnston’s galavanting around the media circuit dissing the Palins and flaunting his newfound independence.

The key for Palin is to answer such questions with sincerity and straight-forwardness (of which she has no shortfall) but also with the aplomb and dignity worthy of a national political power-player positioning for the White House. Winfrey would be remiss to ask the “Are you running/thinking about running for president” question, and Palin must be ready with to answer with a sure-fire, non-commital but “wink-wink” response. …That is, if she is gunning for the presidency at all, which, given her penchant for unpredictable maneuvering, is anyone’s best guess.

Palin’s track record suggests that any and all speculation surrounding her future plans (or lack thereof) is fruitless, so take any and all declarative post-interview predictions from the D.C. blabber-head circuit with a healthy grain of salt. For all we know… Well, let’s not even go there.

What do we know? The Oprah-Palin showdown proves to be a blockbuster.

Nation, set your TiVos.