NYT: Levi Johnston v Sarah Palin book war?

Rex Butler is talking to the New York Times and keeping Levi under wraps. He's been on a bear hunting trip and hasn't returned as of Monday night. What's it all about? It doesn't sound like the negotiations are over, but what is the probability for a Johnston book?

If it is to materialize Butler says:

• “probably worth millions.”

• “Believe me, it’s a hell of a story.”

• “doesn’t want to give it all away right now,”

• “Quite frankly, I think it could affect 2012,”

• Mr. Butler likes to suggest that Mr. Johnston’s story could have an impact on her potential candidacy.

Executives at major publishing houses have not seen a book proposal, nor heard from an agent. There is a GQ magazine piece with a photo shoot in the works.

The complete article is here: What is Levi Johnston after?
excerpts May 22, 2009:

There he was on CBS’s “Early Show” this month, criticizing the message that his former fiancée, Bristol Palin, had just delivered on the “Today” show about how teenagers should abstain from sex. “It’s not realistic,” said Mr. Johnston, the father of Miss Palin’s son, Tripp.

And there he was chatting with Larry King on CNN in late April, complaining that the Palins “just pretty much blew us off” after Mr. Johnston and his mother and sister went on “The Tyra Banks Show” to air all manner of gripes.

Why, after months of Wasilla silence, has the sometimes painfully inarticulate teenage father decided to talk?

He certainly wants to write a book, the lawyer, Rex Butler, said by telephone, adding, “Believe me, it’s a hell of a story.”

( May 6, 2009: Bristol Palin on the Today show with Levi's son Tripp, *note how unusually still he is. Matt Lauer said "out cold" )

Bristol Palin has also been out and about. As the new “teen ambassador” to the Candie’s Foundation, she has appeared on TV and in magazines to promote abstinence. Her high profile has ignited talk that she, too, could try to write a book. Robert Barnett, the Washington agent who negotiated her mother’s book deal, deflected questions about Bristol to the family’s spokeswoman, who denied any plans for a book deal.

The decision by the Johnston camp to go public seems to have been a reluctant one. Two nights before Mr. Johnston was to go on Tyra Banks’s show, Mr. Butler canceled the interview. Cathy Chermol, an executive producer, got him to change his mind.

As he stood backstage, Ms. Chermol recalled, Mr. Johnston seemed nervous and told her that his appearance at the Republican National Convention last August had not been entirely voluntary. “I wish I had still been hunting,” Ms. Chermol said he told her.

Bristol's team of lawyers, publishers, Bristol and Todd Palin are syrupy sweet working their not-at-war-side of the media games.

Teen mom and her family say they are trying to work with former fiancé

Levi's lone legal rep, Rex Butler and Sherry Johnston's attorney:
"I think that if the adults stay out of it, these two who have been very good friends and loved each other deeply in the past, then these people will find their way"

UPDATE: publicist?