Sarah Palin
Of the many things revealed about the Alaska governor Sarah Palin since she became John McCain’s running mate last month, one of the most curious is the fact, reported two weeks ago, that she had a tanning bed installed in the state mansion in Juneau. Obama supporters seized on the news, arguing that private tanning-bed ownership is evidence that Palin isn’t the folksy hockey mom she claims to be, while Republican partisans pointed out that she bought the bed secondhand from an athletic club, and, moreover, that tanning is a reasonable activity, given Alaska’s sun-deprived winters.
Taking a charitable view of the revelation was the Indoor Tanning Association, a trade lobbying group based in Washington, D.C. The organization quickly issued a press release extolling tanning as a source of Vitamin D and gave “kudos” to Palin for standing up to those “trying to frighten Americans away from UV light.” Palin hasn’t commented publicly on her bronzing habits, but tanning professionals are nevertheless excited that an avowed tanner is so prominent on the national stage. “Word flew through our industry,” Dan Humiston, the association’s president, said the other day by phone. “They’re all saying, ‘Good news about Sarah Palin.’ ”
Humiston was speaking from Nashville, where he was attending the association’s annual trade show. The three-day expo features workshops (“Total Salon Makeover: Saving and Rebuilding a Tanning Business on the Brink”), new products (the CosmoLux 9K90 low-pressure sunlamp), and, occasionally, themed entertainment. “Most tanning salons are owned by females,” Humiston said. “If we have a band, we’ll bring in someone for them to get up and dance. The Beach Boys gave a concert once.”
In 1985, Humiston borrowed four thousand dollars from his grandparents, bought two tanning beds, and opened a salon in the basement of an office building in a Buffalo suburb. Now, at forty-five, he’s the president of Tanning Bed, Inc., a chain with thirty-four locations across upstate New York. Humiston, who appears two shades darker than everyone else in photographs, normally adheres to a regimen of fifteen minutes a week under the lights, but lately he’s been too busy to bronze—he’s running for Congress as an independent in the Twenty-seventh Congressional District. “We were at the pool the other day, and my kids were like, ‘Dad, you got a farmer tan,’ ” Humiston said. “I call it the parade tan—my head and arms were tan but my legs were pale.” He added, solemnly, “I’m as fair-skinned as I’ve been in a long time.”
There’s something of a history of tanned politicians—think of Ronald Reagan on his California ranch, his skin as singed-looking as the needle grass, or, more recently, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, like Palin, has been known to stay artificially golden. “I thought she had a healthy glow, even before I knew she was a tanner,” Humiston said. “What I love about it is she’s like a normal person. There’s nothing fancy about it. She bought an old tanning bed and put it in her house in Alaska because they don’t get any sun. She’s probably stressed out, goes and lies in a tanning bed for twenty minutes, and relaxes.” Humiston added, “When you’re governor, it’s probably tough to go wandering into a tanning salon in sweatpants and a T-shirt.”
Much of the I.T.A.’s energy is spent clearing up misconceptions about indoor tanning perpetuated by what I.T.A. officials call “the sun-scare industry.” Last year, a bill was introduced in California that would, among other things, ban anyone under sixteen from using a tanning bed. “The sun doesn’t have a P.R. firm to say, ‘Hang on a minute, they’re misleading you,’ ” Humiston said. Of McCain’s melanomas, he said, “I suspect during the time he was held captive in Southeast Asia there were occasions when he was exposed to intense sun.”
One wonders if a Palin Vice-Presidency would result in an indoor-tanning renaissance, or mark a period of industry deregulation. Humiston says he wouldn’t lobby Palin on his colleagues’ behalf (“That would be below her pay grade”). Nor does he plan to introduce pro-tanning legislation if he’s elected to Congress this fall, although, he said, “If there was ever a question in the legislative body about indoor tanning or UV light, I’m sure I’d be the person that would be called upon.” ♦
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