Newsweek's Notebook Dump

Newsweek presents a festival of juicy campaign gossip in a web piece published this morning. All anonymously sourced and reported...but it's news-hound crack on this sleep-deprived day.

Among the tidbits, a report that Sarah Palin's sartorial spending spree was even bigger than the $150k previously reported:

While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family--clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

The piece says Palin wanted to speak during McCain's concession event last night, but strategist Steve Schmidt said no. Newsweek also reports that Palin's "palling around" comments about William Ayers occurred before the campaign had signed off on a strategy on how to raise Obama's relationship with the former Weather Undergrounder. And the story outlines some of the attack arguments McCain refused to use against his opponent:

The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

-- Evie Stone

1:18 PM ET | 11- 5-2008 | permalink

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