A pit-bull in designer lipstick and Valentino suits, Marie Kemplay explains why Sarah Palin is perhaps not the ordinary hockey mom she professes to be.

In the absence of any serious politics at the other side of the Atlantic media attention has once again returned to the soap opera of Sarah Palin. Over the past few days the Republican party has been heavily criticised for going on a $150,000 spending spree of designer couture and make-up for Sarah Palin and her family – even her infant son – after she was chosen as the Republican’s vice presidential candidate in August.

The Republican Party claims it was always their intention to donate the clothes to charity but in these times of acute economic hardship for ordinary Americans, it would have perhaps reflected better on them if they had tightened their metaphorical belts rather than buying Sarah Palin several new ones and a host of designer suits.

The entire election campaign reeks of overspending and excess, and both parties are just as guilty. This election has broken all records for fundraising and spending; $961 million was raised by both parties by the end of September and the figure is set to pass the $1bn mark by November 4^th,with some estimates putting the total cost at more like $2bn.

Obama has always viewed high spending as the key to victory and since September has bought 330,000 adverts in all the battleground states compared with 100,000 by McCain. And despite his populist pretensions, only a quarter of the $600m his team have raised so far has come from the small donors of $200 or less who he likes to claim are the lifeblood of his campaign. But with Obama 7.4% ahead in the polls at the time of writing it seems his strategy is paying off.

Tags: Politics //