Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain's presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain's chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staff member. It was Amy Strozzi, who was identified by the Washington Post this week as Gov. Sarah Palin's traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.

Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show "So You Think You Can Dance?", was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi's payment as "PERSONNEL SVC/EQUIPMENT."

Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

We understand that the veep needs to look presentable, if not professional, on the campaign trail. But at what point does a down-home, moose-huntin' gal begin to appear out of touch with Americans? The $150,000 is as much as American households spend on apparel and services in 80 years.

Our final questions: New York? Minnesota? St. Louis? And those are right-leaning polls. Why doesn't Palin shop in what she herself referred to as, "real America"?

It has been widely reported that Sarah Palin has yet to give a news conference or even answer a few questions from the traveling press that follow her from city to city on her plane. But, today the Palin camp went to new lengths to control the media, which is covering the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee.
...
It is traditional for the press traveling with a candidate to have some relationship with the candidate and special access because of all the hours logged on the plane and on the campaign trail. But, Palin still has not come back to answer any questions or talk to her press corps. The only time the press has met the Alaska governor is on her first solo flight three weeks ago and it was off the record. We shook hands with Palin and she was quickly ushered back to the front of the plane behind a gray curtain where she has remained for the three and a half weeks she has been a candidate.

...food is one arena where Taipei -- the world's most underrated capital city, according to Monocle magazine -- blows Beijing away. Its food incorporates more influences, spans street food to haute cuisine with greater aplomb and is out and out more delicious than that of its mainland counterpart.

Experience sightseeing fun from a duck's eye view on Greater Cincinnati's only duck tour. Travel on land and water in one amazing vehicle. Tour the streets and SPLASH into the Ohio River. Ride The Ducks is the fun thing to do in Newport.

Ride The Ducks hits all the hot spots within the historic district, such as...

World Peace Bell
Roebling Suspension Bridge
Newport Aquarium
Serpentine Wall
Historic Riverside Drive
Paul Brown Stadium
Great American Ballpark
And much more!

The company attributed the loss to a reduced number of revenue-producing days because many of its exhibitions were traveling, negative publicity for the companies Bodies exhibit from ABC's 20/20 news show, and an increase in administrative costs as it tries to produce more of its own exhibits.

Just weeks after getting into a scuffle with Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez shoved the team's traveling secretary to the ground in Houston over the weekend, according to a published report.

McCormick told Ramirez that he might not be able to get all 16, and according to McAdam, Ramirez responded by shouting: "Just do your job!" They started arguing and Ramirez pushed McCormick.

Morris Tsai, a Taiwanese-American and a Bodies protester since the show opened, says the attendance figures are misleading, pointing out that the Vatican drew its 186,000 in 120 days and it has taken 141 days for Bodies, so it's not a record-setter. "Clearly, Bodies' attendance is trailing the Vatican. It took three weeks longer to match the Vatican."

The Bodies controversy got the show off to a roaring start - its first month attracted 53,000 visitors, compared to 27,000 for the Vatican