US Election Coverage 2008

Palin’s Makeup Stylist Fetches Highest Salary in 2-Week Period

By Michael Luo Gov. Sarah Palin in Virginia Beach, Va. on Oct. 13. (Photo: Michael Appleton for The New York Times)
Updated | 12:20 p.m. Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?
Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.
Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”
In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, got $10,000 for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of October. Ms. Lew’s address listed in F.E.C. records traces to an Angela M. Lew in Thousands Oaks, Calif., which matches with a license issued by the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. The board said Ms. Lew works at a salon called Hair Grove in Westlake Village, Calif.
W Magazine’s blog reported earlier this month that “the Guv has been traveling with a hairstylist named Angela, who usually works out of a salon called the Hair Grove,” and that she was directed to the salon by none other than Cindy McCain, whose own hair stylist, Piper, works at the Hair Grove as well.
The campaign’s payment on Oct. 10 to Ms. Strozzi made her the single highest-paid individual in the campaign for that two week period. (There were more than two-dozen companies that got larger payments than Ms. Strozzi). She easily beat out Mr. Scheunemann, who received $12,500 in the first half of October, and Ms. Wallace, who got $12,000. Ms. Lew was the fourth highest paid person in the campaign during that span.
In September, Ms. Strozzi, who was first identified by the Washington Post this week as Ms. Palin’s makeup artist, was also paid $13,200 for “communications consulting.” But several individuals were paid more by the McCain campaign that month, including Mike DuHaime, the political director, who received $25,000 for “Gotv Consulting,” and Mark Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s senior advisers, who got $13,224 in salary.
Ms. Lew collected $8,825 in September for what the campaign labeled in its report as “GOTV Consulting.”
There has been much attention this week, of course, on the $150,000 Republican National Committee spent outfitting Ms. Palin in September at high-end department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, as well as for makeup services.
The campaign finance reports filed on Thursday night, which showed the McCain campaign and the R.N.C. had about $84 million left in the bank on Oct. 15, did not immediately appear to show any similar payments in the first half of October.

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Hofstede said:

Susu

Babu yake na... naona sasa jua linamchwea, umeona amekusanya watu anasema ni small business owners Colorado, na kusema hawataki tax iongezeke wala strong regulations, mi nilidhani anakuja na jipya at the end anaanza kumu-attack obama yaani huyu mzee sasa bora uchaguzi uishe apate muda wa kupumzika naona kaishiwa. wenzake wanapresent programs na security/Economic advisors yeye anaokota watu mtaani na kujifanya anaongea kwa hisia kama kile kipindi Russia ilivyokuwa vitani na Georgia " i.e Today we are all Georgians".

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YournameisMINE said:

McCain, Kerry friendship hits a rocky stretch...Pals McCain and Kerry, once potential running mates, are not so chummy in this election year

....kwa story zaidi, kapekenyue kwenye newsweek!! Babu Makopo ananunia watu kwasababu ya uchaguzi, Loooh, kaaaaaaaaaazi kweli!!

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Susuviri said:

Hofstede, babu kachoka, si siri na ameshindwa kupata watu wa maana ambao not only endorse him but are ready at this stage to stand onone podium with him. This is especially true for economists, maana hata conservative economists don't want to publicly stand out and endorse his plans! Itabidi tu aendelee kutafuta white business owners who fear the Black Welfare guy! Unafikiri hii Socialism is code word for welfare, radical, Black! Wink, wink, nod, nod! Ya betcha!

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John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established -- and even told reporters outright that the "B" carved into the victim's cheek stood for "Barack," according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain's Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson."

Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the "B" stood for Barack. According to Verrilli, the spokesperson also told KDKA that Sarah Palin had called the victim of the alleged attack, who has since admitted the story was a hoax.

The KDKA reporter had called McCain's campaign office for details after seeing the story -- sans details -- teased on Drudge.

The McCain spokesperson's claims -- which came in the midst of extraordinary and heated conversations late yesterday between the McCain campaign, local TV stations, and the Obama camp, as the early version of the story rocketed around the political world -- is significant because it reveals a McCain official pushing a version of the story that was far more explosive than the available or confirmed facts permitted at the time.

The claims to KDKA from the McCain campaign were included in an early story that ran late yesterday on KDKA's Web site. The paragraphs containing these assertions were quickly removed from the story after the Obama campaign privately complained that KDKA was letting the McCain campaign spin a racially-charged version of the story before the facts had been established, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

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Capitol Hill said:

Nakwambia kama kungekuwa na uwezo wa kurudia siku...FIX News na McCain Campaign wangetaka wairudie hii ya leo. Jana FIX news wali i push sana hii story ya huyu binti "haka kabaguzi ka rangi". Waka dare kutumia neno kama "mutilation", ili kukoleza story. Only if this was right. Leo mjinga mjinga Sean Hannity Kimyaaaaa.....wale wapumbav wengine akina Hewitt, BiLLO, et al., wote wameingiza mikia mat....ni, kwa sababu ime back fire.
Kweli huyu Mungu sio Republican.

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Pundit said:

Naona NYT leo wamemu-endorse Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html

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Susuviri said:

Food for thought:

Sasa McCain campaign cannot even distance itself fromits wacko volunteer, because they embraced the story and pushed it!! They are trying to distance themselves but not going well, no wonder Fox News VP said it will be the end of McCain campaign!!! Pushing a hoax!!

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Hofstede said:

Unajua story kama hizi zimemuondolea sifa McCain ya kuwa C-I-C. anawezaje kuwashawishi wamarekani in years to come if hapen kuwa Iran imekaribia kutengeneza Nuclear bomb na hivyo tunaenda kumdisarm. Everybody will think he's a liar. McCain bid to WH imeisha, good white people will be afraid to vote for him because they won't like to be seen in "racia tank of McCain".

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Susuviri said:

Food for thought:

Sasa McCain campaign cannot even distance itself fromits wacko volunteer, because they embraced the story and pushed it!! They are trying to distance themselves but not going well, no wonder Fox News VP said it will be the end of McCain campaign!!! Pushing a hoax!!

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Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide says

• <LI class=cnnhiliteheader>Story Highlights
• Sources say there is brewing tension between McCain aides and Palin
• Palin aide says she is trying to take control of her message
• "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," says a McCain adviser

From John King, Peter Hamby and Dana Bash
CNN
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.
A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
A Palin associate defended her, saying that she is "not good at process questions" and that her comments on Michigan and the robocalls were answers to process questions.
But this Palin source acknowledged that Palin is trying to take more control of her message, pointing to last week's impromptu news conference on a Colorado tarmac.
Tracey Schmitt, Palin's press secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the press and started talking. Schmitt tried several times to end the unscheduled session.
"We acknowledge that perhaps she should have been out there doing more," a different Palin adviser recently said, arguing that "it's not fair to judge her off one or two sound bites" from the network interviews.
The Politico reported Saturday on Palin's frustration, specifically with McCain advisers Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin's initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly damaging.
In response, Wallace e-mailed CNN the same quote she gave the Politico: "If people want to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there."
But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.
They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain's record.
Schmitt came to the back of the plane Saturday to deliver a statement to traveling reporters: "Unnamed sources with their own agenda will say what they want, but from Gov. Palin down, we have one agenda, and that's to win on Election Day."
Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.
"This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating," this senior adviser said.
This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to "test" Obama.
Tensions like those within the McCain-Palin campaign are not unusual; vice presidential candidates also have a history of butting heads with the top of the ticket.
John Edwards and his inner circle repeatedly questioned Sen. John Kerry's strategy in 2004, and Kerry loyalists repeatedly aired in public their view that Edwards would not play the traditional attack dog role with relish because he wanted to protect his future political interests.
Even in a winning campaign like Bill Clinton's, some of Al Gore's aides in 1992 and again in 1996 questioned how Gore was being scheduled for campaign events.
Jack Kemp's aides distrusted the Bob Dole camp and vice versa, and Dan Quayle loyalists had a list of gripes remarkably similar to those now being aired by Gov. Palin's aides.
With the presidential race in its final days and polls suggesting that McCain's chances of pulling out a win are growing slim, Palin may be looking after her own future.
"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature. She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day, voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and personally."
CNN's Ed Hornick contributed to this report.

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