by Evie Stone

Good morning, all. It's Wednesday, it's gorgeously sunny, the maple trees in Washington are aflame with fall color, and we only have 13 days of this madness left!

The NYT reports this morning that the McCain camp sees the road to victory traversing Pennsylvania. A raft of statewide polls give Obama a double-digit lead in PA, but the McCain campaign says their internal numbers are more favorable and they're putting on the hard sell. After this spring's 6-week run-up to the state's contested Democratic primary, Dems have a strong registration edge over the GOP in Pennsylvania, but questions persist about the degree to which race will play a role in the election outcome. (Though some anecdotal evidence describes households that use the n-word and profess support for Obama in the same breath.) Democratic Governor Ed Rendell tells CNN he's still "a little nervous" and has requested that Obama do more campaigning in PA before election day. But the LA Times remains skeptical of McCain's chances in the state, writing that "by any number of measures, McCain's [Pennsylvania] prospects are dimming." McCain was there yesterday, telling the citizens of Western Pennsylvania (rather stumblingly) that the region is the "most patriotic, most God loving, most patriotic part of America." Hey, what about "real Virginia" and all those "pro-America" small towns in other states?

 

It's ugly in phone-land. This morning we saw reports out of Wisconsin and West Virginia of telemarketers who have quit their jobs over anti-Obama call scripts — similar to the much-discussed recent McCain robo-calls — linking Barack Obama to the Vietnam-era bombing activities of former weatherman Bill Ayers. (Obama was eight years old at the time of the bombings.) TPM reports that the Obama campaign is responding to McCain's phone assault with a robo-response calling the McCain efforts "sleazy." Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO gets their hands dirty with this pro-Obama robo-call that tells phone-answerers that "John McCain has gotten us into this economic crisis." Uh, right. Forget predatory lenders, over-leveraged banks, Fannie & Freddie, and borrowers who lied on their paperwork. This mess is allllll McCain.

And finally, move over, $400 haircut. Politico's Jeanne Cummings reports that the RNC has shelled out more than $150,000 to "clothe and accessorize" Sarah Palin and her family since the Alaska Gov was chosen to be John McCain's running mate.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Cummings writes that the charges pop up in the RNC's financial disclosure report under the category "campaign accessories." Palin certainly has been looking fly on the trail (see Politico's helpful accompanying slideshow of Palin fashion). But shopping sprees at Barneys may not have been exactly what Republican donors had in mind when they mailed their checks. The campaign is trying to deflect the scrutiny of its sartorial spending spree, insisting that the clothing will "go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

Politico reviewed Obama and DNC financial disclosure forms and didn't find any similar spending. We feel compelled to note that as sitting Senators — not to mention dudes (so unfair, always) — Biden and Obama likely had an easier wardrobe transition to make, and were in for for less appearance-based scrutiny than Palin and her family were when they made their national debut. But still...$150k?