Oof. This is not what the McCain campaign wants to read two weeks before the election:The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.Sarah Palin wasn't a beet farmer last week. She was a governor. Presumably, she had clothing already. The sort of clothing that was appropriate for giving political speeches and attending campaign meetings. You can imagine the need for a couple new things (lots of different climates, etc), but not $150,000 for a whole new wardrobe. And not $150,000 of other people's money for a whole new wardrobe. The RNC has a strong direct mail operation: Many of those donations are coming from middle income folks terrified that Barack Obama is going to raise taxes on all Americans who refuse to memorize the Koran. It's money spent to defeat Obama, not make Palin look fabulous.in any case, I think the odds of the long-awaited Sarah palin press conference just got that much slimmer...Update: Jesse Taylor estimates that "if John Edwards’ legendarily elitist haircuts ($400 a pop!) were a weekly thing, he’d spend $4,000 on haircuts over the course of ten weeks. John Edwards could get 7.2 years of haircuts for what it costs to keep Sarah Palin it high-necked jackets for ten weeks." Indeed, over e-mail he notes that it's costing "$2,142.86 per day to clothe her." That's a lot of money, but give Palin some credit: She's not hoarding it all to herself. She's spreading it around to luxury clothing outlets.Socialist.Image used under a CC license from Newshour.
