John Edwards’ $400 haircut is looking like a bargain. New finance reports show that the Republican National Committee spent almost $55,000 on a fashion stylist for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The McCain campaign also paid Palin’s traveling hair stylist and makeup artist more than $110,000 for about two months of work, the New York Times reported. And even after the controversy about the RNC spending $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Palin and her family, the spending continued. McCain’s staffers appear to have spent about $23,000 on Palin at stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, according to new finance reports. The spending apparently has shocked even Palin. A former senior adviser for the campaign said in a statement that Palin “is absolutely appalled at the news and the amount of money reportedly spent on the vice presidential campaign.”
The symbolism of John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, potentially assuming the U.S. Senate seat once held by her uncle Robert Kennedy is pretty rich, especially with Sen. Edward Massachusetts, D-Mass., in declining health. But New York Gov. David Paterson has a long list of veteran Democrats to consider for the appointment to fill out Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton’s term. And as columnist George Will said on “This Week” on ABC, “public offices are not family heirlooms.”
Our editorial Friday rounded up the week’s ugly news about the state budget and concluded that “Kansans can hope state leaders will find the courage to pass a budget that meets the state’s responsibilities without pushing the pain off on locals or punishing the most vulnerable among us.” We’ve since learned that November revenues were 3.3 percent – or nearly $14 million – less than anticipated. Our editorial brought this reaction, though, from Alan Cobb, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Kansas: “Isn’t it worth mentioning the impact of four years of large budget increases on the current budget situation? If the budget had simply increased at 5 percent, hardly a small number, each year since 2004, we would have more than $2 billion in the bank now.”
Columnist Bill Kristol warned against being too trusting of economists, noting how they have been all over the map with their prescriptions for the ailing economy. Still, Kristol is optimistic about the economic team Barack Obama is assembling. “They’re sober and competent people who know we face a real crisis – and who, importantly, may be more willing than many of their colleagues to adjust their thinking early and often.”
Butler County, which was home to Barack Obama’s grandparents and mother, needs to take a cue from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau. A new Web site sponsored by the bureau has information on two dozen sites related to Obama’s past and present, including the hospital where he was born in 1961, the private school he attended from fifth through 12th grades, a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop where he worked, a favorite beach for bodysurfing and the USS Arizona Memorial (which the Obama family has toured). The bureau’s site kicks off with Michelle Obama’s quote that “you can’t really understand Barack until you understand Hawaii.” Butler County — and Wichita, for that matter — would seem to have potential for an Obama heritage tour.
John Edwards’ $400 haircut is looking like a bargain. New finance reports show that the Republican National Committee spent almost $55,000 on a fashion stylist for vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The McCain campaign also paid Palin’s traveling hair stylist and makeup artist more than $110,000 for about two months of work, the New York Times reported. And even after the controversy about the RNC spending $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Palin and her family, the spending continued. McCain’s staffers appear to have spent about $23,000 on Palin at stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, according to new finance reports. The spending apparently has shocked even Palin. A former senior adviser for the campaign said in a statement that Palin “is absolutely appalled at the news and the amount of money reportedly spent on the vice presidential campaign.”
