IS IT LOVE? AND IF SO, ON WHOSE PART?

I was initially skeptical of Kathleen Parker's theory that John McCain picked Sarah Palin primarily because he has the hots for her, but I can't help thinking that somebody on Team McCain is in love, after reading about the campaign's apparently unlimited budget for Palin primping -- first the $150K budget overall for clother, hair, and makeup, and now this:

Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain's presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain's chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, who was identified by the Washington Post this week as Gov. Sarah Palin's traveling makeup artist....

Ms. Strozzi ... was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records....

Is this McCain's craziness? Is he the aging alpha male trying to make sure his young beloved looks fine?

I think there are other possibilities. Consider what Robert Draper wrote about campaign manager Rick Davis for The New York Times Magazine:

After [a] first brief meeting, Davis remained in discreet but frequent contact with Palin and her staff -- gathering tapes of speeches and interviews, as he was doing with all potential vice-presidential candidates. One tape in particular struck Davis as arresting: an interview ... on "The Charlie Rose Show" ... What [Davis] liked was how she stuck to her pet issues -- energy independence and ethics reform -- and thereby refused to let Rose manage the interview. This was the case throughout all of the Palin footage. Consistency. Confidence. And . . . well, look at her.

It's that breathless "well, look at her" -- not a direct quote, but nearly so -- that makes me wonder if the lovesick one is Davis or possibly Steve Schmidt -- according to Draper, those two top campaign honchos were pondering Palin long before McCain was.

Yeah, I've seen the video of McCain seemingly ogling Palin's butt. But when I see that every heterosexual men on the planet except me apparently finds Palin extremely attractive, I have to assume McCain may not have his team's worst love jones for his running mate. And he's not signing the checks, is he?