MEGHAN MCCAIN

LIBBY COPELAND, WASHINGTON POST Meghan McCain, who blogs about life inside her dad's presidential campaign, is not terribly interested in matters of policy, but she is acutely attuned to matters of footwear. McCain is a political outsider with an insider's access, and on her Web site she notices the things political junkies never would, like the "really cute" shoes Chelsea Clinton wore when they met. She posts photographs of her own shoes and of the shoes she encounters on the trail, including those belonging to such fashion luminaries as Dick Armey and Henry Kissinger.

"Because I love shoes, and who doesn't want to know what kind of shoes Dr. Kissinger wears?" she writes on her blog. . .

"I don't understand why in this industry of politics, I am an airhead," says Sen. John McCain's daughter on a recent Sunday at the Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Ariz., not far from the McCain family's weekend home. She occasionally strokes the blond ponytail that lies over her shoulder like a mink stole. "I'm so sick of being called dumb because I like, you know, movies and music and fashion."

"She's really articulate," says her friend and fellow "blogette" Heather Brand, who's sitting nearby. . .

"I think there are some people who are haters and they're like, 'Oh, she's not writing the blog,' " Brand says. . .

She writes that her dad's new campaign bus is totally "pimped out," and she posts "10 Things You Don't Know About My Mom," revealing that Cindy McCain is a "huge" fan of the band Cream and that her favorite snacks are "Cheetos and salt and vinegar potato chips.". . .

"The blog is trying to keep it real, and trying to show how it really is, and I look like crap!" she says. "Like, the last post I was a mess, and I was like, 'Well, there's pictures of me on the Internet looking like a mess.' But I kind of like the purity of it."

"Like, the three of us, we're around each other 24 hours a day, and it's like, you know, she feels very comfortable with us," says her fellow "blogette" Shannon Bae, whose black hair is streaked with blond and who is frequently seen grinning and leaping in photos posted on the blog. "I think that's what makes her really accessible. Because, you know, people can smell [expletive]."

"Totally," McCain says.