The Atlantic looks at the improbable redemption of Jack Abramoff–“the man at the center of a sprawling corruption scandal that led to 21 convictions and tarred large swaths of the Republican establishment.”

“Since 2010, when Abramoff was released from prison (where he served three and a half years for fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion), he has refashioned himself as a reformer, and emerged as one of the most visible faces of the good-government movement. He is a frequent cable-news commentator, with a best-selling book (Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist), the radio program (on XM Satellite Radio), and a pair of reality-TV-show concepts in development.”

“Abramoff is also tearing up the speaker’s circuit, where he collects fees as high as $15,000. Harvard Law School has hosted him, as has an FBI training center.”

“Mitt Romney isn’t running for president, but he’s still looking for supporters’ contributions,” Politico reports.

“The former presidential candidate sent out an email Thursday evening to bundlers and big donors, asking them to join him for a four-day June summit in Park City, Utah. The cost: $5,000.”

Suzy Khimm: “The president raised a billion dollars for his reelection campaign, but the staffers who engineered his victory may be worth even more to corporations and other groups that are eager to unlock the trade secrets that made the Obama brand so successful.”

“While it’s virtually a rite of passage for political veterans to hit the speaking circuit or hang out a shingle as a ‘strategic consultant,’ it isn’t the political horse race or the Washington game that intrigues many audiences and prospective employers so much as the analytics and tools used on the campaign trail that could have a commercial impact well beyond the Beltway.”

Alaska Dispatch: “Free of concerns about pesky ethics problems related to remote
possibilities of engaging in crony capitalism, former Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin was decked out on Sunday as a walking advertisement for husband
Todd’s new Iron Dog sponsors — among them the Canadian company Ski-Doo.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “will hit the paid speaking circuit this spring (likely April or May) and has selected the Harry Walker Agency, which represents President Clinton, as her agent. Industry officials expect that she will be one of the highest paid speakers in the history of the circuit, with fees well into the six figures in the United States and abroad,” Mike Allen reports.

National Review points out that Dick Morris, who is the author of books such as Here Come the Black Helicopters!, Screwed!, and Revolt!, says that “he’s now fighting to do for the Republican party what he did for the Democrats during the Clinton years — moderate it.”

Said Morris: “I’m trying to explore ways in which the Republican party can make itself viable nationally, so it can win national elections without sacrificing its basic principles. That’s the mission I’ve set for myself.”

Jonathan Chait: “It’s probably a better way to get airtime on CNN. It’s also a logical persona for a huckster who is quickly running short on them.”

Time looks at Al Gore’s recent business dealings — including a new book — and notes he “has built his net worth to some $300 million, according to the
scorekeepers at Forbes. By their measure, he is now richer than the
renowned super­capitalist Mitt Romney.”

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) “will follow the well-trod path of hitting the paid speaking circuit after his retirement from Congress — and will charge $50,000 per appearance,” BuzzFeed has learned.

“Paul’s rate puts him about in the middle of the field for former politicians. He’s making more than John Huntsman, Mike Huckabee, and Joe Scarborough, but much less than Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger, each of whom command six-figure fees.”

The New York Times reports that “so many former American officials have returned to Kosovo for business — in coal and telecommunications, or for lobbying and other lucrative government contracts — that it is hard to keep them from colliding.”

“Kosovo is not the only nation where former officials have returned to
conduct business — Iraq is another example — but it presents an extreme
case, and perhaps a special ethical quandary, given the outsize American
influence here. Pristina, the capital, may be the only city in the
world where Bob Dole Street intersects Bill Clinton Boulevard.”

Paul Waldman takes another look at Dick Morris and his Super PAC, “an organization whose entire
purpose is to raise money, and its expenditures involve raising money and finding new donors. And not, say, getting Mitt Romney elected.”

“Perhaps there’s a more innocent explanation for all this, but the way it looks is that 1) People (should we call them ‘marks’?) donate money to Morris’ super PAC; 2) he pays that money to Newsmax for ‘fundraising’; then 3) Newsmax turns around and pays the money back to Morris, for access to his list of donors. Perhaps Newsmax takes a cut, or perhaps the list is their cut, because these people can then become marks for all kinds of future scams.”

SaavySugar pulls out the wealthiest politicians from the Forbes 400 list.

New Yorker: “Political consulting is often thought of as an offshoot of the advertising industry, but closer to the truth is that the advertising industry began as a form of political consulting. As the political scientist Stanley Kelley once explained, when modern advertising began, the big clients were just as interested in advancing a political agenda as a commercial one. Monopolies like Standard Oil and DuPont looked bad: they looked greedy and ruthless and, in the case of DuPont, which made munitions, sinister. They therefore hired advertising firms to sell the public on the idea of the large corporation, and, not incidentally, to advance pro-business legislation…”

“No single development has altered the workings of American democracy in the last century so much as political consulting, an industry unknown before Campaigns, Inc. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, political consultants replaced party bosses as the wielders of political power gained not by votes but by money… Political management is now a diversified, multibillion-dollar industry of managers, speechwriters, pollsters, and advertisers who play a role in everything from this year’s Presidential race to the campaigns of the candidates for your local school committee.”

Gabrielle Sherman: “Last night’s kerfuffle between Sarah Palin and Fox News was a classic display of Sarah Palin being, well, Sarah Palin. But her Facebook outburst complaining about Fox canceling her appearance at the Republic National Convention reveals something deeper about Palin’s often rocky relationship with the network. Palin’s contract is up in January, and according to sources, Fox News executives are now weighing what kind of deal they would sign, if they sign one at all.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “may be slipping down the shortlist of potential Mitt Romney running mates,” Politico reports, but the vice presidential buzz surrounding him “has helped put his new memoir on The New York Times‘s best-seller list, creating a windfall that could potentially wipe out the senator’s personal debt. Coffers for his campaign committee and leadership PAC also have become flush with cash in recent months — he’s seen a 50 percent uptick in donations.”

Said one GOP strategist: “This could be one of those times when you’re better off being the one everybody wants rather than being the one who actually gets picked.”

Coming this summer: The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty.

Toby Harnden gets an early look: “Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined… Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.”

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is going into business with two other top officials from the George W. Bush administration, the AP reports.

“Gates will join an international consulting firm headed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley. The new firm, to be called RiceHadleyGates, is based in California and Washington, D.C.”

The Chicago Tribune interviews billionaire investor Ken Griffin:

Q. What do you think in general about the influence of people with your means on the political process? You said shame on the politicians for listening to the CEOs. Do you think the ultrawealthy have an inordinate or inappropriate amount of influence on the political process?

A. I think they actually have an insufficient influence. Those who have enjoyed the benefits of our system more than ever now owe a duty to protect the system that has created the greatest nation on this planet. And so I hope that other individuals who have really enjoyed growing up in a country that believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — and economic freedom is part of the pursuit of happiness — (I hope they realize) they have a duty now to step up and protect that.”