Palin sorts through wardrobe to find what is party property

GOVERNOR Sarah Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican party after it spent $150,000-plus (€118k) on a wardrobe for the vice-presidential nominee, Palin’s father has said.

Palin and John McCain’s campaign faced a storm of criticism over the tens of thousands of dollars spent at such high-end stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus to dress the nominee. Republican National Committee lawyers are still trying to determine exactly what clothing was bought for Palin, what was returned and what has become of the rest.

Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.

RNC lawyers have been discussing with Palin whether what’s left of the clothing and accessories purchased for her on the campaign trail will go to charity, back to stores or be paid for by Palin, a McCain campaign official said.

The McCain-Palin campaign said about a third of the clothing was returned immediately because it was the wrong size, or for other reasons. However, other purchases were apparently made after that, the campaign official said.

Meanwhile in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Palin faulted the policies of the Bush administration for the defeat of the GOP ticket, and said, “it’s amazing that we did as well as we did”.

“I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads, like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration? If we’re talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing,” Palin said.

Amid speculation in Alaska and nationwide about Palin’s political future, the governor scheduled a series of national interviews on Fox News last night, NBC’s Today show today and CNN on tomorrow. She also plans to attend the Republican Governors Association conference in Florida this week.

Palin has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012.

Heath said his daughter “hasn’t shown her hand” about her political plans.

In Wasilla, her home town backers welcomed her, putting aside their disappointment over her unsuccessful bid.

Bags of fan mail, as many as 400 letters a day, partially fill a room at her parents’ house. But parents no longer meet Secret Service agents when they pick up their children at Cottonwood Creek Elementary, where Palin’s youngest daughter, Piper, is a student. Reporters and camera crews are also gone from the Palin home on Lake Lucille.

Four state troopers still guard the governor 24 hours a day, Heath said — something Palin never had before.