Pricey new duds aren't helping Palin in polls

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Receiving more than $150,000 in clothing and accessories from the Republican National Committee last month doesn't just run counter to Gov. Sarah Palin's image as a "Wal-Mart Mom from Wasilla," it also might have violated the spirit if not the letter of a campaign finance law co-authored by her running mate, Sen. John McCain.

The 2002 McCain-Feingold law prohibits funds that "are donated for the purpose of supporting the activities of a federal or state officeholder" from being used for personal expenses, including clothing, but it doesn't preclude party committees from doing so.

Politico.com first reported the expenditure on clothing, hair styling, makeup and other "campaign accessories" made in September, and the McCain camp couldn't tamp down the story by saying that it intended to donate the items to charity after the election.

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," McCain spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

However, in May 1993, McCain said, "The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly."

Down in polls

What's eroding even more significantly - and quickly - could be the public's confidence in Palin. For the first time Wednesday, according to a new MSNBC/Wall Street Journal poll, more people have a negative response to Palin than a positive one. The poll of 1,159 registered voters from Oct. 17 to 20 found that 47 percent viewed Palin negatively; 38 percent saw her in a positive light. The poll found that 55 percent felt she wasn't qualified to be president.

In September, shortly after McCain asked her to join the GOP ticket, Palin enjoyed a 47 to 27 percent positive rating.

"Coming at a time that more Americans are being asked to do more with less, this doesn't look good," said Linda Basch, president of the nonpartisan National Council for Research on Women.

"The question about her clothing fits in with her two-dimensional portrayal in this campaign: She's either the attack dog or the hot babe," Basch said. "The American people (in the MSNBC/WSJ poll) are showing that they believe that she doesn't have a command of domestic or foreign policy issues. She has not spoken out about the issues that matter in this campaign to women.

"And now, people feel the hot babe is not going to be able to fix things," she said.

Even California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sounded unsure Wednesday that Palin is ready to fix things, even though he's about to campaign for McCain in Ohio. On Wednesday, CNN's Campbell Brown asked the governor if Palin was qualified to be president. Schwarzenegger replied, "She will be." Prompted for more by Brown, he added: "By the time that she is sworn in, I think she will be ready."

The new threads and accessories for Palin and her family included $49,425.74 spent at Saks Fifth Avenue stores in St. Louis and New York and $75,062.63 at Neiman Marcus - stores that don't have outlets in the small towns of "real America" that the Republican vice presidential nominee has been referencing lately in stump speeches.

"She's an enigma," said Susan Carroll, a professor of political science at Rutgers University and co-editor of "Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics." She added, "She's a mix of all these different images."

Palin told CBS' Katie Couric last month that she considers herself a "feminist" but called herself "Caribou Barbie," while Alec Baldwin told her "You are way hotter in person" last weekend on "Saturday Night Live." Buttons with her photo and the tag "Hottest Governor from the Coldest State" sold out at the Republican National Convention in September. More than 1.2 million people have seen a video of Palin strutting in a one-piece bathing suit in a 1984 beauty contest - about 10 times as many as have viewed the McCain-Palin campaign's "Joe the Plumber" commercial.

She is only the second woman in history to appear on a major party presidential ticket, but some analysts say she has blurred that distinction by spending less time talking about issues that male politicians rarely discuss - like increased day care or equal pay for women - than she has telling voters that Barack Obama has "palled around" with terrorists.

She links Obama's tax policies to socialism, yet as Alaska's governor she taxed oil companies and redistributed their wealth to residents of her state in the form of $1,200 annual checks. She calls herself a reformer, yet an independent investigation into the Alaska troopergate scandal found that she "abused her power by violating" the state's ethics law.

Confusing

"This is confusing to people," Carroll said. "They don't know where to place her. I don't think this (the clothing purchases) will do much to her base of supporters, but it may to others."

Perhaps Palin's self-appointed "hockey mom" image was a bit overblown.

"She was never a hockey mom, she was always the prom queen sitting in the back of the convertible waving to the hockey moms," said Simon Doonan, creative director at Barneys New York, the high-end clothing store.

As a fashion expert, Doonan didn't have a problem with Palin's expenditures, as $150,000 doesn't go as far as it used to - especially when you're a national candidate making several personal appearances a day. He estimated that outfitting Palin - shoes to accessories - in the style she has been sporting would run about $5,000 per outfit.

"In my mind, ($150,000) is not nearly enough," Doonan said. "She should be out there feeding the economy - as long as she is buying American and shopping retail."

A spokesman for the Obama campaign said it has paid for hair and makeup costs associated with interviews or events but has not paid for clothing worn by the candidates or their spouses. The Democratic National Committee has not spent anything on clothing and accessories for the Obamas, the Bidens or their families.

Part of the clothing affair is a double standard that female politicians face. Democrat John Edwards drew scorn during the primaries last year for receiving two $400 haircuts, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's wardrobe was dissected in ways almost equal to examinations of her health care policy.

"Men have it easy in that they have this uniform - a dark suit, white shirt and red tie - while women are expected to be different," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics.

Discussing the RNC clothing purchase for Palin is fair game as long as it is in context of potentially being "an ethics issue," Walsh said. "But if someone is talking about her clothing or sexualizing her in some way that you wouldn't a male candidate, then it becomes problematic."

What's even more disturbing to Walsh is how male commentators on the cable news networks continue to comment on "how hot she is."

"It's not like she's dressing suggestively - she's wearing suits all the time," Walsh said. "At this stage of the campaign, with all of the important things going on, I really wish we could get back to talking about the issues, and her stands on them."