Politically suited

If the past two years have taught us anything, it's that style is political. Flag pins, tie color, the cosmetic proclivities of the porcine no matter the minutia, issues related to fashion have played a surprisingly prominent role in the 2008 presidential campaign. Choosing the 10 most notable style stories of the campaign was tricky, especially the narrowing it down part. Undaunted, we tapped our inner Mr. Blackwell (may he rest in peace) and came up with our picks. So hold onto your pantsuits. It's time to take a look back at the sartorial hits and misses of an election cycle we won't soon forget. - MEAGHAN AGNEW

10. THE PURPLE TIE
Sartorially speaking, purple is a hue usually left to royals, school mascots, and wrestler Ric Flair.Not this year. For media types and talking heads pressed to prove their political neutrality, purple - and its less magisterial cousin, lavender - became the new beige. A happy (and bipartisan) medium between red and blue, purple ties have been the accessory of choice this season, marking one of the few commonalities between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly.

9. THE FLAG PIN
Barack Obama created a flap when he explained to an Iowa reporter that he’d stopped wearing his American flag lapel pin in the wake of the Iraq war because the pin "became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism." Pundits on both sides pounced. Issues of red, white, and blue rarely allow for shades of gray, and Obama once again began donning a flag pin for some events.

8. THE JACKIE O COMPARISON
Which potential first lady - Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama - did a better job evoking style icon Jacqueline Kennedy? The media fell all over itself to make the definitive statement. From Politico.com: "Michelle cut the faultless figure of the quintessential president's wife last Saturday in South Carolina - the president, of course, being John F. Kennedy and the wife being Jackie." And from The Seattle Times: "Cindy McCain sets tone for GOP fashion. Not since Jacqueline Kennedy first donned her signature pillbox hats have fashionistas paid such close attention to what the women of politics are wearing." Truth is, using Jackie's style as the standard is as tired as dubbing every talented basketball player the next Michael Jordan. Pearls = Jackie? Great. Can we move on now?

7. THE TONGUE STUD
Last year, when statuesque, flame-haired beauty Elizabeth Kucinich - the 29-year-old wife of Ohio congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich - revealed her bid to become the first first lady with a tongue stud, the country’s curiosity was piqued. "Can we see it?" asked Hannah Storm, then co-anchor of CBS's "Morning Show." "No, you can't - sorry," Elizabeth replied. "That's my privilege," Dennis added. Sometimes the personal isn't political, it's just, er, personal.

6. THE PANTSUIT
A gender-studies dropout could have seen it coming. From the moment Hillary Clinton declared her presidential ambitions, her appearance became fodder for the pundits. "Does our looks-obsessed culture want to stare at an aging woman?" right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh asked. The Washington Post dedicated more than 700 words to a discussion of Clinton's C-Span cleavage, deeming it an "exceptional kind of flourish." Ultimately, it was the endless array of suits that became Clinton's style takeaway. Even as she endorsed Obama at the Democratic National Convention, she paid homage to her fans as "the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits."

5. CUTS AND RUNS
Democratic hopeful John Edwards's $400 coif was just the beginning of this election's follicle follies. After dropping out of the primaries, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson took a page from Al Gore's playbook, emerging several weeks later with a grizzly man beard. Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr gained enough national exposure to become one of 16 finalists for the first annual Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year Award. (No, we're not making that up.) And years of speculation about whether Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden has hair plugs became a punch line when John McCain cracked wise during a debate about gold-plated healthcare plans covering hair transplants.

4. NOW EAR THIS
Self-deprecation was the order of the night at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, where both presidential candidates donned natty white ties and tuxes and let the roasting begin. McCain got off some sharp zingers at Obama's expense, while the latter couldn't resist poking a bit of fun at himself. "I share the politics of Alfred E. Smith," Obama quipped, "and the ears of Alfred E. Newman."

3. A CLAN OF FASHION MAVERICKS
The eyes of the nation were trained on Sarah Palin to see how she'd do at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. But when the cameras weren't on the VP nominee, they were panning over her family - and dozens of style stories were born. Husband Todd sports a goatee. Levi Johnston, boyfriend of Palin's pregnant daughter Bristol, has his beloved's name tattooed on his ring finger. And when 6-year-old Piper Palin licked her hand and smoothed her tiny brother Trig's hair, Republican and Democrats alike couldn't help but say, "awwwwww."

2. 'LIPSTICK ON A PIG'
Obama, at a Virginia campaign stop in September, criticized McCain’s policies by saying, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." The well-worn folkism had also been used by McCain earlier on the campaign trail. But conservatives leapt on the line, accusing Obama of not-so-subtly referencing Palin's earlier lipstick on a pitbull remark. (The Alaska governor had joked that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull was lipstick.) The McCain campaign immediately rolled out an ad playing on Obama's lipstick comments: "Ready to lead? No. Ready to smear? Yes."

1. THE WARDROBE STORY
In late October, word broke that the Republican National Committee had spent upward of $150,000 to clothe Sarah Palin and her family while on the campaign trail. Pundits on both sides seized on the story; some said the disclosure undermined Palin's populist appeal, others railed that even talking about a female candidate's wardrobe is sexist. Palin addressed the controversy days later at a Florida rally. "Those clothes, they are not my property," she said. "Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased. I’m not taking them with me."