What does it take to be successful in the political arena of the United States if you are a woman? Is it an orange pantsuit or perhaps red shoes?

It seems to me that women in politics these days must have a very large budget for clothing. At the Democratic National Convention last week, Hillary Clinton wore an orange pantsuit. There are many reasons she may have decided to wear an orange pantsuit. Whatever the reason, it did grab attention. When I did a search for "Hillary's orange pantsuit," I got 67,200 hits.

A lot of people are talking about her choice in clothing. So how much does that orange pantsuit cost? According to one website, Hillary gets her pantsuits at an upscale American department store headquartered in New York City (where she serves as Senator). When I went to their website, I could only find one black suit jacket (sorry, no orange) for $2440.00.

There is yet another upscale shop that Hillary could shop at. When I went online to their site, I again only found the jackets to the pantsuits and they ranged in price from $365 all the way up to $2670.00.

Not to be outdone, at the Republican National convention, Sarah Palin wore red shoes. This grabbed even more attention than Hillary's pantsuit, at 156,000 hits when I searched "Sarah Palin's red shoes". According to one pundit, Sarah bought these shoes for $134.10.

Is this something most women can afford? If you can afford them, and you would love an orange pantsuit, I say, "Go for it." Notice the word, "love." Would a regular woman like you and me, put this pantsuit or these shoes on a credit card or take out a payday loan? This may not be the responsible use of our money. Before buying clothing like the candidates wear, I would first determine if I really "love" the red shoes (they are really cute, aren't they?) or the orange pantsuit. Next, do I really "need" either of them? Maybe I really do love and need the red shoes to go with an outfit I have. Then, can I save up enough money for the purchase before buying the red shoes, and then should I buy them somewhere more affordable than the upscale department stores that Hillary may shop at?

I suppose if I need to get a lot of attention, maybe if I'm running for some sort of office, the purchase of this kind of clothing may be a necessity. But then again, have you even heard one thing about what Barack Obama or John McCain was wearing at those same conventions? I guess your clothing decisions and the amount you are willing to spend, and if you're willing to go into debt or take out a payday loan to purchase them, has to be completely up to you.