Jonathan Martin wonders why she’d broach this subject, thereby keeping it alive for another news cycle. The likely answer, per his colleague: Because she had nothing to do with the RNC clothes purchases and is boiling about what it’s done to her image.

[T]he final straw for Palin and her allies was the news that the campaign had reported spending $150,000 on her clothes, turning her, again, into the butt of late-night humor.

“She never even set foot in these stores,” the senior Republican said, noting Palin hadn’t realized the cost when the clothes were brought to her in her Minnesota hotel room.

“It’s completely out-of-control operatives,” said the close ally outside the campaign. “She has no responsibility for that. It’s incredibly frustrating for us and for her.”

McCain defended her this morning on MTP but doubtless he’d like to change the subject. Maybe tomorrow.

The video I really wanted to give you was of her warning Obama not to pop the champagne just yet — “You kinda get the feeling that the Obama campaign thinks this whole election process is just a formality” — but I can’t find it. If you see it somewhere, I’d be grateful for the tip. In lieu of that, you’ll find Hasselbeck’s intro of Palin today below. Exit quotation: “This is deliberately sexist.”