US Election Diary: Suited not booted

Suited but not booted

Alaskan retailers lucky enough to have Sarah Palin's patronage are boasting. The mother of five went shopping with her 14-year-old daughter Willow recently at an Anchorage second-hand shop, Out of the Closet. She picked up an Escada tweed jacket for herself, The Wall Street Journal revealed, and a Juicy Couture coat for Willow. "Go Girl! We love seeing you in your Out of the Closet duds!" screams the store's website now. But not everyone is happy to have Palin's endorsement. Patagonia Inc, an outdoor clothing company, says it has "absolutely no plans" to promote its association with the governor. "Patagonia's environmental mission greatly differs from Sarah Palin's", said Jen Rap the company's spokeswoman.

What he didn't say is that Patagonia's founder, Yvon Chouinard, and his wife Malinda are already big donors to Democratic causes. They backed Hillary Clinton and recently sent the comedian-turned-politician Al Franken $1,000. Her environmental record aside, Patagonia was never going to be in the Palin camp.

Fey finds Palin's funny bone

Quite funny. That was Sarah Palin's official verdict of Tina Fey's debut impersonation of her on the new season of the satirical TV show Saturday Night Live, according to an email sent by Republican aides. Fey's five-minute sketch, watched by almost as many people as tuned for Palin's convention speech, had the famous updo, the glasses and even Palin's flat prairie accent. And it was mercilessly biting, mocking her views on Russia, global warming, sexism and guns. Palin tuned in on her campaign plane somewhere over America . Saturday Night Live is being closely watched in this election ecause of the way it captures the political zeitgeist.

The sleepover factor

At a rally in North Carolina, Joe Biden told a story about his 10-year-old granddaughter Finnegan, who slept over with "Bawack's girls" as he calls the Democratic presidential contender's daughters, Malia and Sasha. "So folks, I believe that's a metaphor, a metaphor for what the country is looking for," he said. "They're looking for a sleepover with people they like." Biden was making a point about Obama being the kind of guy you'd want to be friends with. Let's hope he doesn't get carried away and repeat his unfortunate remark from earlier in the campaign: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking . I mean, that's a storybook man."