Red Shoe. Blue State.

On the day we inked this here photo to press, news of the Gov. Palin's $150,000 wardrobe upgrade was breaking over the heads of pundits and voters getting their first salty licks of a depression. It would seem she came through on her promise of reform. Reformed the whole damn family in fact. Fashionably. Expensively. Americanaley. She even reformed my interpretation of "reform." Think I'll go out and reform myself a new pair of shoes.

Mr. Jeremy Lange, the deftly talented sure shot who shares the job with me at the Independent, was there to, working the "buffer" * - that's the part between the stage and crowd where cameras buff the candidate to give them the best looks. Shine em up all pretty. And Miss Wasilla did not disappoint as she declared her love for the pro-American parts of the country. Instinctively, the crowd called back,"U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A."

Now that's pro baby. That's pro.

We felt the need to eat steakburgers afterward, but declined the shakes. Which might of been something other than pro-American. Later on, I piled the snaps together, sorted them out, then mixed in a dash of ol' Hank Williams Jr. playing a sad remake of "Family Tradition" to create this here slideshow.

Watch. Reflect. Then go out and vote.

* So lately I've been brushing my teeth while watching the Daily Show on my laptop, which is on top of the toilet. And John Stewart, funny man that he his, made a joke about John McCain's excessive and vague use of air quotes while talking, "or as well call them, dick fingers." I tried to laugh, but I was brushing my teeth. I'd like to think it a fitting commentary on these high-strung times.