Wanda Routier, a proud hockey mom in Hewitt, Wis., who spends her time in sweatpants, turtlenecks, ankle boots and heavy coats, had no idea that looking like a hockey mom could be so expensive.

She was dismayed to learn yesterday that the Republican Party had spent about $150,000 over two months on clothes, hair styling and accessories for Sarah Palin and her family from such upscale stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

"I was put off by it," Ms. Routier said. "I mean, I know they have an image to project, but that's a lot of money when we're talking about the economy the way it is! And the burden on ordinary Americans."

But another hockey mom defended Ms. Palin. "I can certainly imagine her clothes would cost that much," said Page Growney, a mother of four in upscale New Canaan, Conn. "What did you want to see her in, a turtleneck from L.L. Bean?"

As much of the world knows, after the Alaska governor was chosen by Arizona Sen. John McCain as his running mate, she introduced herself at the GOP convention -- in what's been widely reported to be a $2,500 Valentino jacket -- as a "regular hockey mom," and boasted of having saved Alaska's taxpayers "over-the-top" expenditures like her luxury jet, her personal chef, even the ride to work.

She has often talked of "real Americans" and "Joe Six-Pack" and projected a folksy demeanor in her vice presidential debate. "Let's do what our parents told us before we probably even got that first credit card," she said in that debate. "Don't live outside of our means."

Advisers to Ms. Palin yesterday said the purchases -- which were classified as "campaign accessories" -- were made on the fly after she was chosen as the GOP vice-presidential candidate Aug. 29 and needed new clothes to match climates across the 50 states. They emphasized, too, that Ms. Palin had not spent time on the shopping, and that other people made the decision to buy such an array of clothes.

Yet Republicans expressed consternation publicly and privately that the shopping sprees on her behalf would compromise Ms. Palin's standing as Mr. McCain's chief emissary to working-class voters, especially since her salvos at the so-called cultural elite often delight audiences at GOP rallies.

The average U.S. household spent $1,874 on clothes and services in 2006, the last year for which figures are available from the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So Ms. Palin's detractors were naturally having a field day with the revelations, first reported on Politico.com. They included a whopping $75,062 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, one for $49,425 from Saks Fifth Avenue, $4,902 at Atelier, a stylish men's store, and even a $92 romper and matching hat with ears for baby Trig at Pacifier, a Minneapolis baby store.

"It looks like nobody with a political antennae was working on this -- just one more sign of the hapless decisions in this campaign," said Ed Rollins, a GOP political consultant who ran President Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984. "It just undercuts Palin's whole image as a hockey mom, a 'one-of-us' kind of candidate."

Mr. McCain's Democratic rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and his wife, Michelle, have been tagged as elitist by both Republicans and Democrats at times, and so much was made when she appeared on "The View" in June in a black-and-white patterned dress. Turns out it sold for $148 at an off-the-rack store.

Ms. Palin's choice of clothes, and their costs, will certainly raise eyebrows in the suburban Toledo neighborhood of "Joe the Plumber," whom the McCain campaign has been championing for his middle-class concern about Mr. Obama's tax plans.

"That's more than I've spent on clothes in my whole life," Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who represents Toledo, said last night. She said she buys her clothes at retailers such as J.C. Penney's, Macy's and Value City. And whatever she buys comes from her own pocket -- not from campaign or party funds, she said.

"I pay for my own things," Ms. Kaptur said, adding that she also pays for her own cosmetics, hair care and even to get her shoes fixed when they break on the campaign trail. "It sounds like she [Palin] has more of a Hollywood mindset than a Main Street mindset," said Ms. Kaptur, Congress' longest-serving female.

Whether criticized by Democrats or supported by Republicans, Ms. Palin's clothing purchases are a far cry from the "respectable Republican cloth coat" that Richard Nixon, in his famous 1952 "Checkers" speech, told the nation his wife, Pat, wore. Mr. Nixon at the time was also running as the Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Booth Moore, the Los Angeles Times' fashion critic, last night said she had never come across such a controversy over the wardrobe of a candidate. "I don't think there's been another example," said Ms. Booth, a Times reporter for 12 years.

She said Ms. Palin's fashion sense chips away at the common-woman image she has built. "Honestly, if she had picked five or six outfits that she wore over and over again, and if voters recognized her wearing them over and over again, that would be much more of an 'every woman,' because most of us have to wear the same things from week to week," Ms. Booth said.

The episode raised questions about the propriety of using party money for such expenses. The Republican National Committee said the clothes belonged to the RNC, while the McCain camp said they would go to a "charitable purpose" after the campaign.

The campaign also sought to deflect the issue by criticizing the media attention. "With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said McCain spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt.

But many thought the spending was the remarkable thing.

Hockey mom Adina Ellick, 43, of Chappaqua, N.Y., said: "If I spend $1,000 on clothes in a year, it's a lot. Usually I'm sitting at a freezing hockey game in fleece pants and a pullover sweatshirt and a blanket over my head!" She was "offended" by the amount of the expenditures.

If Ms. Palin's $2,500 Valentino jacket seems excessive, consider that Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, wears Hart Schaffner Marx suits that retail for about $1,500. Mr. McCain consistently wears $520 Salvatore Ferragamo loafers, while Vanity Fair editors estimated that an outfit his wife, Cindy, wore at the Republican National Convention cost $313,100, including diamond earrings and pearl necklace.

Most of the expenses for Ms. Palin were initially incurred by Jeff Larson, a GOP consultant who was chief executive of the Republican National Convention's host committee. Federal Election Commission records show that the RNC reimbursed Mr. Larson for the expenses.