Tales from the Trail

William Shatner, aka Capt. Kirk of Star Trek and pitchman for priceline.com, got a lot of mileage last year out of his dramatic reading of parts of Sarah Palin’s speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination.

So it was only a matter of time before Palin got him back, and that’s what happened on Friday night on NBC’s “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”

First Shatner came on stage to read some lines from Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.”

“‘One year, while stalking sheep, I disappeared,’” he said.

Then Palin made a surprise appearance, showing up on stage brandishing a copy of Shatner’s memoir. She read some lines, including this gem:

As the AIG ire continues to bubble, President Barack Obama is in southern California, touring an electric vehicle plant, holding a town hall meeting with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and finally taping an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He’s been on the show before, back when he was campaigning for the White House, and he’s hardly alone. Aspiring presidents from John F. Kennedy to Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton have found late-night TV audiences alluring. But Obama is the first serving president to sit on the “Tonight Show” couch.

It’s expected to be a chance for Obama to push his stimulus and recovery packages, and channel the outrage over taxpayer funding for troubled companies like AIG.

Back in Washington, first lady Michelle Obama celebrates Women’s History Month by touring a school in the city’s Anacostia section and sponsoring events at 11 other schools around the area with other women accustomed to the public eye — singer-songwriters Sheryl Crow and Alicia Keys, gymnastics star Dominique Dawes, actresses Phylicia Rashad, Fran Drescher and Alfre Woodard, Google Vice President Marissa Mayer and Army Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the nation’s first female four-star general.