Palin/RNC Clothing Bill Goes Up $30,000 for Accessories, $110,00 for Stylists

Via Politico:

The Republican National Committee will report Thursday that it spent about another $30,000 on clothes and accessories for Sarah Palin during her vice presidential bid a GOP source tells Politico.

How can a single clothing story have so many twists and turns? If you're keeping score at home, we're now up to $180,000 that the RNC has officially declared it spent dressing the former Vice Presidential nominee (and her family) for all of a little more than two months worth of campaigning.

The additional spending will be detailed on the committee's post-general election report, which is due to be filed with the Federal Election Commission before midnight.

Of course, I can already imagine many of the comments that will be posted about this latest disclosure. "Who cares about how much money they spent on her?" or "Why didn't we hear about how much the DNC spent dressing Joe Biden, you sexist pig!" and, my personal favorite, "Leave her alone!"

Well, today, The New York Times has had a look at the final disclosure forms and gives us some more impressive numbers to contemplate. From the end of September through the first week of November, Palin and the RNC spent a whopping $110,000 on stylists for the Alaska Governor. A break down after the jump.

Gov. Sarah Palin's traveling makeup artist was paid $68,400 and her hair stylist received more than $42,000 for roughly two months of work, according to a new campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Of course, unlike the clothes, there's no giving back a fancy new hairstyle or autumnal glow.

Let's face it, this is one of the odder stories to come out of the campaign, one filled with charges and counter-charges, most of them made with RNC plastic at Sak's Fifth Avenue and Niemann Marcus. Plenty of controversy has arisen over who authorized the purchases, how involved Palin was, and whether or not she has returned all of the items. Image is everything in politics, and the reason this particular tale carried so much heft was that it seemed to directly contradict the image of Palin put forth by Republican handlers. It is exactly the same equation that made much of American take in its breath at the news that John Edwards had gotten a $400 trim. Of course, a woman's looks are scrutinized more than a man's. The question is whether $290,000 was not a tad excessive. But maybe this is all flogging a dead horse, or moose, or whatever.

In case you're still curious about this PR debacle, Andrew Sullivan's series "The Odd Lies of Sarah Palin" is a good place for further information. Here's one installment I found interesting.