You betcha! Palin look-alikes abound

NEW YORK — Claire Zulkey may not have a $150,000 wardrobe, but that hasn't stopped people from telling her she looks like Sarah Palin.

Zulkey, a writer in Chicago, is among the many women who seem to fit the description of the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the minds of their friends, family and co-workers. And it's a comparison that extends far beyond those who resemble Tina Fey.

"If you have the glasses and the brown hair, then you're 75 percent of the way there," she said. "And then if you're unfortunate enough to have bangs, you're there."

Some women don't even need the tousled, brunette updo to get the comparison; blondes and redheads have been told they look like Palin if they wear the right glasses.

Cindy Michaels, a news anchor in Bangor, Maine, said she has gotten hate mail and nasty phone calls from viewers who think she looks like John McCain's running mate. Michaels, who has long, brown and hair and occasionally wears glasses, said the 10 or so complaints came from women telling Michaels she should try to look less like Palin to avoid influencing the election.

"I was kind of shocked when I got the very first phone call. I honestly thought it was a joke," Michaels said. "I did not know I look like her."

Zulkey couldn't say the same for herself. She said she saw her own resemblance to the candidate in her bathroom mirror on the night of the vice-presidential debate.

Zulkey then created a Facebook group called "Women Who Kind of Look Like Sarah Palin Against Sarah Palin," which now has 26 members, some of whom have brown hair and glasses, and some of whom don't.

There are blondes and redheads in that group and other online gatherings of Palin look-alikes, some who say it just takes one feature, such as glasses, to invite comparison. YouTube features dozens of videos featuring Palin look-alikes, not all of them demonstrating family values.

One woman started a Facebook group called "I stopped wearing my glasses because of Sarah Palin," for those who "do NOT look like beauty queens" and resent the comparison.

However, many women are embracing Palin as a style icon.

Her glasses — $375 Kawasaki 704 titanium frames — are selling out, and instructions for getting the Palin 'do abound online. Halloween suppliers have reported ordering more Palinesque wigs for what's expected to be one of the year's hottest costumes.

But whether they like being compared to Palin or not, most women say they don't have plans to change a look they've sported for years.

"I think it's one of those things where you go through your life quietly with your bangs and your brown hair and your glasses and then suddenly you look like Sarah Palin," Zulkey said.