In politics, appearance is everything. And for politicians' wives, looking great for the cameras is key, whether its the Jackie Kennedy-influenced sheaths favored by Michelle Obama, or the bold, jewel-tone colors Cindy McCain sported at the GOP convention this week.

And for designers, having your outfits worn by a potential First Lady certainly can't hurt. Witness the press (and extra sales) generated for Chico's White House Black Market chain after Michelle Obama wore a black and white scoop-neck day dress from the retailer during an appearance on ABC's "The View."
    
Chico's could use the lift, given over a year of dwindling sales at its main chain that caters to women over the age of 40. Earlier this week, it announced an endorsement deal with Debbie Phelps, who it said wore its clothes the whole time she was in Beijing cheering her son, Olympic champion Michael Phelps.

Now, Wall Street is wondering who is next to endorse a brand.
    
"If Michelle Obama is boosting White House Black Market sales and Chico's is paying Debbie Phelps to pose for its catalogs, doesn't it make sense that Gymboree or Children's Place hire Sarah Palin as spokesperson for their brands?" asked JP Morgan retail analyst Brian Tunick in his monthly "Tunick's Top 10" list to clients.

Other possibilities for Palin could be Uggs boots (it's cold in Alaska), or Lenscrafters (a story on the candidate's rimless, titanium pair that did not come from the lower-cost glasses chain ran in USA Today). 

Other suggestions?

(Photo: Reuters)

Former senator and Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole tells Inside the Tent contributor John Steward why this year’s White House race is different.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Steward is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are his own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Republican National Convention.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.

The Republican convention is over, a whirlwind event interrupted by a hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast and energized by the pick of a woman vice presidential candidate. And with it comes the home stretch of the (seemingly interminable) 2008 presidential election.

Did presidential hopeful John McCain finally win over the conservative base by picking the conservative Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his No. 2? Does he run the risk of alienating the independents drawn to him in the past with her selection? Did he lay out enough policy specifics to refute charges by rival Democratic candidate Barack Obama that details were lacking?

What else do voters want and need to hear now that the conventions are over?  Game on, bring on the debates!

(And yes, it’s OK to admit that you skipped the pre-game warmup to McCain to catch the NFL season opener between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants…) 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar

ST. PAUL - “Mother. Moose hunter. Maverick.” As a film on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin began at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, a strangely familiar melody played in the background.

The swelling strings triggered associations of family, oil and … J.R. Ewing? Yes, the song bore a striking similarity to the theme song from “Dallas.”

Listen for yourself:

Sarah Palin bio (from about 0:35)

Dallas opening credits (from about 0:10)

LANCASTER, Pa. - The work of community organizers, who work  for low salaries to help people in impoverished communities,  is getting lots of attention this week as Republicans poke jabs at Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s job experience.

The three years Obama spent as a community organizer “maybe … is the first problem on the resume,” said former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in his speech at the Republican convention on Wednesday.

Giuliani, who failed in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and now runs a lucrative consulting firm, said community organizing sounded as though Obama had “immersed himself in Chicago machine politics.”

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin also took a swipe in her speech,  saying her experience as a small-town mayor in Alaska was similar to being a community organizer, “except that you have actual responsibilities.”

Obama was a community organizer after college in Chicago. He worked with a church-based group trying to improve conditions in poor neighborhoods and communities hurt when steel plants closed, according to his official campaign website.

He then went to Harvard Law School, became a civil rights lawyer, taught law and ran for the Ilinois State Senate. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

On the campaign trail on Thursday, Obama told a crowd in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that the Republicans “really had fun talking about the work I did after college.”

“I don’t know if they understand what it means for a young person, at the age of 22 or 23, to pass up more lucrative options and work with people who are having a tough time and seeing that when people work together, we can do amazing things, rebuilding communities and setting up job training centers and setting up afterschool programs for kids.

“Maybe that’s not really interesting work for Rudy Giuliani, but for the people on the ground who are seeing a difference in their lives, that’s important stuff,” he said.

At another campaign stop in York, Pennsylvania, he said the remarks about community organizing showed Republicans were out of touch.

“Why would that kind of work be ridiculous?” he asked. “Do they think that the lives of those folks who are struggling each and every day, that working with them to try and improve their lives, is somehow not relevant to the presidency?

“I think maybe that’s the problem. That’s part of why they’re out of touch, and they don’t get it because they haven’t spent much time working on behalf of those folks,” he said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Matt Sullivan (Obama campaigning) 

Sarah Miller of Eagan, Minnesota, a single mom and college student, talks about goals of protesters at the Republican National Convention, and the likelihood of further violence as the convention draws to a close.

After this video was filmed on Thursday afternoon, several hundred anti-war protestors had hoped to march to the convention hall to confront Republicans, but were blocked by police clad in riot gear on a bridge several blocks away.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up.

(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan)

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Republican National Convention.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.

ST. PAUL - Faith-based community organizers have a message for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin: they have “actual responsibilities” thank you very much.

In a pointed barb aimed at Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, John McCain’s running mate on the Republican ticket said her experiences as a small town mayor in Alaska were far more taxing than that of a community organizer.

Obama was a community organizer in Chicago two decades ago.

“A small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities,” the Alaska governor told the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night in a rousing speech peppered with jabs at Obama.

“Contrary to Palin’s disparaging remarks, organizers have major responsibilities for creating policy changes. Feeding the hungry and housing the homeless are clearly responsibilities of people of faith. We do that by providing food and shelter and more importantly, by organizing to address the causes of injustice and inequity which lead to hunger and homelessness,” said Kim Bobo, Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice, a congregation-based community organization in Chicago.

Bobo was quoted in a statement issued by several faith-based community organizations that bristled at the remarks by Palin, who has revved up other people of faith — the conservative Christians who comprise the Republican Party’s key base.  

(Photo credit: REUTERS/Rick Wilking, Sept. 3, 2008, USA)

A standoff between rock fans and police led to 102 arrests Wednesday night when fired-up concertgoers took to the streets after a Rage Against the Machine show.

Several hundred fans of the band, whose songs include “Take the Power Back,” and “Bullet in the Head,” marched through downtown Minneapolis after the band finished its set at the Target Center arena.

The show ended at roughly the same time as the third night of the Republican convention across the Mississippi River in St. Paul. Fans of the politically radical band mixed with exuberant Republicans headed to exclusive parties where they toasted vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s speech.

As police in riot gear faced shirtless rock fans in the streets, Republicans looked on from the rooftop deck of the exclusive R. Norman’s steakhouse, where bigwigs like Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman pressed the flesh.

Many of those at the party were not impressed with the spectacle.

“They’ll claim police brutality, then sue and win and make enough money to come to the next convention,” one partygoer said.

“They can sit there all night because they don’t have jobs,” said another.

The protesters didn’t sit there all night, in fact. Police arrested 102  after they occupied an intersection and refused to leave, said Bill Palmer of the Joint Information Center.

Most were ticketed for presence at an unlawful assembly, but two were booked on assault and obstruction of legal process, Palmer said.

The Twin Cities have been the scene of sometimes violent protests and a heavy security presence during the Republican National Convention. Kelly Nuxoll of Huffington Post’s Off the Bus talked to two residents about what they think and how they’ve been affected.

Jonathan Hunter, St. Paul

“This is not the world I live in.”

Rick Engman, Minneapolis

“I don’t mind a non-violent protest,  but when people start threatening other people’s freedom of speech like the Republican National Convention’s meeting … then there’s a problem.”

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Nuxoll is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are her own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Republican National Convention.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.

Are Hollywood Republicans “coming out of the closet” with their conservative beliefs? “A little, not a lot,” actor Kevin Farley tells Inside the Tent contributor John Steward.

Inside the Tent has more than 40 delegates and other attendees in Denver and St. Paul, equipped with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Steward is not a Reuters employee and any opinions expressed are his own.

Click here for a full list of contributors at the Republican National Convention.

Click here for more Inside the Tent contributions.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 election coverage.