Republican Party vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has dismissed the hype over her wardrobe spending of USD 150,000.

Palin said she never accepted the expensive clothes and insisted of her being a frugal spender. "It's kind of painful to be criticised for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth USD 150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.

"That is not who we are. That whole thing is just, bad! Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are," she was quoted as saying by Chicago Tribune in an interview posted online last evening.

Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they will be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity. Palin said the clothes "were loaned to us during the convention. And I don't think it was anywhere near ... What did they say... $150 grand? It wasn't anywhere near that," Palin said.

"Those are not ours. We give those back, those go to charity or they'll be auctioned off or whatever. That's not even my property."

At a time when Democrat Barack Obama is ahead in opinion polls, the Republicans are worried over the disclosure that their campaign managers spent USD 150,000 on the wardrobe of Palin.

The party strategists fear that the disclosure and publicity might fray the image of "hockey mom" or an ordinary American they are trying to build for her. The party is still to overcome double digit lead established in some opinion polls by Obama.-us' kind of candidate.