Sarah Palin has taken a lot of heat — from Democrats, especially — for spending $150,000 in Republican National Committee money to look good. Some say this has caused her to have an image problem.

But many stylists say that was money well spent.

Politico.com, which first broke the Palin shopping story, interviewed professional stylists and image consultants who said Palin’s makeover was necessary to boost her profile from one of a virtually unknown Alaska governor to branding her as the potential next vice president of the United States.

"She is dressing appropriately for the job she is going after,” said Lauren Rothman, a Washington stylist and the principal in the fashion consulting firm Styleauteur.

Betsy Fisher, the owner of the eponymous clothing store in Washington’s Dupont Circle, says Palin and her handlers managed to straddle the line between hockey mom who hunted her own moose meat and uber-fashionista. “She does not look like she is wearing particularly expensive clothes,” Fisher said. “She looks like you could be her, too.”

Some also say it’s not a new phenomenon – candidates spending party money, or their own cash, to look good on the campaign trail.

“We’ve worked with candidates before who have money to spend — some of it was their own, and some of it was from the party,” said Los Angeles-based image consultant Patsy Cisneros, a part-owner of Political Icon, which works with candidates running for office. “It was put in under so many different ways. You would be surprised what money gets spent.”

Relatedly, wowOwow.com recently talked to beauty-shop owners in five toss-up states in this year’s presidential election to find out what issues are important to them. Click here to read what they said.

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