Paying For Journalism

Submitted without comment.

Yes, there are pressing issues facing the nation, from unemployment to foreclosures. But there is still room, it seems, to contemplate the fixed pale-blonde halo framing the delicate head of Newt Gingrich’s wife. She has been asked about her hairdo “at every stop,” said Kellyanne Conway, a pollster and senior strategist for the Gingrich campaign. “Men say, ‘I love your hair,’ women compliment her and then say, ‘How do you keep it so perfect?’ ” (The secret: hair spray, specifically Kenra Volume Spray 25.)

Callista Gingrich’s bob is the latest addition to a distinguished roster of political hair to be parsed for meaning, from Hillary Clinton’s headbands to John Edwards’s $400 trim to the Sarah Palin up-do that even many Democrats grudgingly admired. Mrs. Gingrich’s hair is only the second-most-talked-about of the current campaign season, with her husband’s rival, Mitt Romney, coming in first. Hair is, literally, an extension of politicians’ selves, inviting scrutiny, Facebook posts and hair punditry: What does it say about them? What does it really say?