And the winner is...(envelope please).....Sarah Palin's expensive campaign wardrobe!

The Governor and her glad rags

It is almost unimaginable that anyone tried to make this an issue, let alone that the media covered it as if it meant something. Even more astonishing is the performance of the backstabber on the McCain staff who leaked--or made up--more of a story on it after the campaign, and, yet again, that FOX or anyone allowed such a pseudo-scandal to keep going after the election.

Forget all the price tag numbers and the disparaging language by the "leaker": On the campaign trail, a candidate (let's face it, especially a woman, even now) has to look good every day and for several appearances a day. During the primary season even males typically take weeks to get into the sartorial rhythm of having clean, presentable clothes available for every occasion, But at least people don't normally critique men's suits. If Palin had been stuck with any normal woman's wardrobe and yet had tried to look fresh and well-groomed on the road, public event after public event, it would have led to amused press comments stories about her inadequate style. In fact, that is where the press was headed before Sarah headed for Neiman Marcus. It's a funny thing how ordinary, middle class people on a budget seem to have such "poor taste", isn't it? Why some are even "second homeless"! It makes them unqualified for high office, don't you know?

Therefore, as in many campaigns, Gov. Palin's personal costs--in this case her handsome dresses and suits--were appropriate campaign expenses. Most campaign supporters undoubtedly would have been delighted to know that their contributions went to such a useful purpose. It beats having your cash used for, oh, say, a $700,000 rally in Berlin, or another television ad to match the one that just ran 90 seconds earlier.

Most important, Palin's wardrobe was a campaign expense, not a taxpayer expense. The faux-furor in the media made some people think it was somehow a public cost. The proper reply to the story right from the beginning should have been, "So, what? This is an expenditure the Republican National Committee was pleased to make. And, by the way, we absolutely expect Gov. Palin to keep the clothes after the election. Why not?"

Finally, we are left with the pitiful spite of whoever brought this story to the media from inside the Republican camp. What odious political gnome would refer to the Palins as "Wassila hillbillies"?

This year we seem to have conquered racial bigotry, but not class and regional bigotry.

Overall, Gov. Sarah Palin rose admirably to the challenge suddenly thrust upon her at the Republican Convention. She and Todd, her dignified, yet cheerful husband (who comes across as a natural gentleman, savvy and decent), managed to leap into campaign mode from a standing start. Good for them. Which of the fault-finders could have done as well?