According to a recent online survey by, Hillary Clinton would make the scariest Halloween costume of any 2008 political candidate. Not inclined to put much stock in the opinions of people shopping at "the World's Largest Party Superstore"? Consider their collective wisdom:

In a related poll, ShindigZ asked customers what George Bush should dress up as for Halloween. In the poll, 41.2% of customers thought President Bush should dress up as Sharpay, the antagonist of Disney’s High School Musical. 25.4% thought he should dress as the “scariest” candidate, Hillary Clinton. 14% voted for Spiderman while 11.9% thought the president should embrace his roots and dress as Walker, Texas Ranger. Another 5.2% voted for the president to dress up as his father, George H.W. Bush and finally 2.2% thought he should dress as Donald Rumsfeld.

Donald Rumsfeld. Very droll.

It's nerdy to dress up as a political figure for Halloween, but tempting, because it's easy. Own a tie? You're almost ready. But keep in mind the following tips. Don't be too trendy. A couple of years ago there were lots of people in mussed mascara calling themselves Harriet Miers. Last year I saw more than one Mark Foley (the salient prop was a cell phone full of naughty text messages.) This year there'll probably be a lot of Larry Craig costumes. It's risky to dress as a Supreme Court Justice. In 2005 I dressed up as Chief Justice John Roberts but looked like Hermione Granger. Hard to go wrong by dressing up as Mitt Romney. People will either think you have a funny costume or a nice suit. Finally, think tactically. If you go as Rudy, it gives you licence to have several women on your arm.