Dataset of the Day: Mapping the Politico.com Story on Palin's $150,000 Wardrobe

Campaigns, like maps, are often about appearance (i.e. fashion). The most explicit discussion of campaign fashion comes in the form of shocking price tags on haircuts, like Senator Edwards’. While a haircut is trivial, the importance of fashion really hits home when one reads that Barack Obama wore “a suit that looked as if it cost more than some of the cars parked outside…” to a community meeting. Unsurprisingly, this week the discussion turned on Sarah Palin’s expenses.

Given all the talk, we thought it would be interesting to map out where and specifically how much money was spent. While the story originated in Politico.com the data came from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) where both parties have to report campaign finance spending.

$75,062.63 Neiman Marcus – 505 Nicoliet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55402
$41,850.72 Saks 5th Avenue – 611 5th Ave. New York, NY 10022
$7,575.02 Saks 5th Avenue – One Plaza Frontenac St. Louis, MO 63131
$5,102.71 Bloomingdales – 59th St. & Lexington Ave New York, NY 10022
$4,902.45 Atelier – 7th & 47th New York, NY 10036
$4,537.85 Macy’s – 700 Nicoliet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55402
$4,396.94 Macy’s – 700 Nicoliet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55402

Palin spent a large amount of her money in Minnesota as you can see on the map of her shopping by city.

A closer look at the shopping route through Minneapolis provides further detail:

In New York several shopping favorites were hit including Sak’s Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales

Should anyone out there have any data on where the threads of Obama’s suits comes from, or where Biden gets his hair cut, we’d love to feature it here alongside the Palin data. You can’t help but ask the question if this story would be as big if the candidate in question was male?