Are you ready for that closeup?

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a “hottie,” or so says “fishbandit” in an Anchorage Daily News comment on a story about the former Miss Wasilla posing for fashion pics.

That particular endorsement was missing on Palin’s campaign material when the 43-year-old ran for statewide office last year, but as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Just as former military types who seek elected office make sure their campaign literature includes at least one photo of them in uniform, “hotties” include head shots.

Let’s face it: Vogue magazine editors don’t ask people to sit for a photo spread because of their brains.

But woe to the glamorous governor when her “swept-up light-brown hair” — as described by Associated Press writer Steve Quinn — shows signs of missed salon appointments as tinges of gray peek through.

The woman identified in a FoxNews.com headline as “the GOP’s newest star” might one day feel a smidgen of kinship with Hillary Clinton, and it won’t have spit to do with their views on health care or a woman’s right to choose.

Clinton has taken a blogosphere beating the past two weeks after the Drudge Report posted an image of the 60-year-old presidential candidate snapped during door-to-door campaigning on a very cold December day in Iowa. Without benefit of studio lights, flattering camera angles or time to compose herself for a photo, Clinton’s tired eyes and wrinkled face apparently were startling to some.

In the hands of her political foes, the photo was fodder for questions about Clinton’s chance of success as commander in chief.

“Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?” Rush Limbaugh opined. “And that woman, by the way, is not going to want to look like she’s getting older, because it will impact poll numbers. It will impact perceptions.”

Nation’s obsession

The great bloviator doesn’t put much faith in the ability of the American people to look beyond the superficial, but Limbaugh did have a point about this nation’s obsession with physical perfection. That could be why he’s only available on radio.

Poor Hillary. Pilloried for wearing a blouse that revealed a hint of cleavage on the Senate floor, vilified for looking like every other 60-year-old woman would on a cold and breezy winter day.

And now Clinton and Condi have something in common: questions about their competence pegged to their appearance.

Author Glenn Kessler’s book about the secretary of state, “The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy,” includes a less-than-flattering assessment of Rice’s appearance at a July 2006 international diplomatic conference in Rome two weeks after hostilities erupted between Israel and Lebanon.

Summers in Italy can be as beastly as winters in Iowa, only on the other end of the extreme. Kessler describes a “bedraggled Rice” entering the stifling conference hall, “wiping beads of sweat from her forehead.”

“Rice did not look strong or in control; she looked in over her head,” writes Kessler.

Is it sexist to base an assessment of one’s skill on appearance? Not when it comes to politics. And it’s nothing new.

In an effort to appear young and vital, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was rumored to have Botoxed away wrinkles during his run against George W. Bush in 2004. The delicious part of that story is that it was his Democratic rivals who were making the claims.

Ronald Reagan may have left Hollywood behind in his quest for political office, but he took the makeup artist with him all the way to the White House.

Flop sweat

And recall Richard Nixon’s literal liquefaction during the nation’s first televised presidential debate in 1960. A tsunami-esque flop sweat and a 5 o’clock shadow sprouting from pale skin made Nixon look nervous and unsure. Across from him stood John Kennedy — tan, fit, confident.

X Jill “J.R.” Labbe is deputy editorial page editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.