WASHINGTON (AFP) – In Washington, where professional women’s style statements are pointedly conservative, Hillary Clinton’s cleavage has suddenly burst into one of the hottest topics of the Democratic presidential race.

The normally very conservative dresser’s slightly low neckline during a July 18 campaign debate on education mostly went unremarked at first, until Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan took notice and branded it a “small acknowledgment of sexuality and femininity.”

“There was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning Givhan wrote.

“It belonged to Senator Hillary Clinton.”

Clinton wore “a rose-colored blazer over a black top. The neckline sat low on her chest and had a subtle V-shape. The cleavage registered after only a quick glance,” she wrote.

“There wasn’t an unseemly amount of cleavage showing, but there it was. Undeniable … It was startling to see that small acknowledgment of sexuality and femininity peeking out of the conservative — aesthetically speaking — environment of Congress.”

The focus on Clinton’s bosom rather than her national security policy drew an explosion of “thousands of angry letters and calls” from readers, mostly women, the newspaper’s ombudsman later wrote.

Many took issue with the idea that the Post devoted so much room to a non-political aspect of a tense national political battle for the White House.

The Clinton campaign on Friday chimed in, hoping to turn the controversy over Givhan’s article to advantage.

“Would you believe that The Washington Post wrote a 746-word article on Hillary’s cleavage?” Ann Lewis, a top campaign official, said in a fund-raising e-mail.

“Frankly, focusing on women’s bodies instead of their ideas is insulting. It’s insulting to every woman who has ever tried to be taken seriously in a business meeting,” Lewis wrote.

The Post ombudsman defended Givhan’s article.

“Does this have anything to do with whether Clinton should be president?” the ombudsman asked. “Not a thing. But do we want to read the column about her cleavage? Yes indeed.

“It was the most viewed story on the Web site all day. So was a recent story on (Democratic presidential hopeful) John Edwards’s hairdresser.”

Earlier this year Edwards, who is running well behind Clinton in the Democratic race, was taken to task in newspapers and on the Internet for paying 400 dollars for a haircut.

MANILA (Reuters) – The Catholic Church has issued guidelines on what Filipinos should wear to mass in Manila after some parishioners complained about distracting skimpy attire.

“This is to remind people that it would be good to come in appropriate clothing because other people are scandalised,” said Peachy Yamsuan of the archdiocese of Manila on Monday.

“It is for the other worshippers who are distracted. You come to the church to pray and if your eyes wander and you see inappropriate clothes, well, it does not add to your spiritual goals.”

The majority of the Philippines’ 87 million people are Catholic and worshippers throng sweltering churches each Sunday, although some devotees attend religious services in air-conditioned malls, giving the ceremony an informal air.

But Manila’s archdiocese has issued posters advising women not to wear short skirts, revealing necklines and spaghetti-strap tops to mass, while men are warned against shorts, caps and basketball jerseys.

Instead, female parishioners are encouraged to wear dresses or long skirts and blouses and men are asked to wear shirts, trousers or jeans.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Loretta Nall, the Libertarian Party’s write-in candidate for governor of Alabama, is campaigning on her cleavage and hoping that voters will eventually focus on her platform.

“It started out as a joke, but it blew up into something huge,” said Nall, a 32-year-old with dyed blond hair.

Her campaign is offering T-shirts and marijuana stash boxes adorned with a photo of her with a plunging neckline and the words: “More of these boobs.” Below that are pictures of other candidates for governor — including Republican incumbent Bob Riley and Democratic Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley — and the words: “And less of these boobs.”

Her Web site has a cartoon of someone stuffing bills down the front of her low-cut top. And for $50 donation she apparently offers to show a cartoon of herself flashing her breasts.

Nall, who spoke in an interview Friday on the Capitol steps, realizes that is about as close as she is going to get to the governor’s office. But her outrageous antics have helped her attract attention not normally enjoyed by write-in candidates.

Nall is calling for the withdrawal of the Alabama National Guard from
Iraq, tax credits for sending children to private school and home schooling, opting out of the No Child Left Behind Act, legalizing marijuana, and not complying with the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act.

The Libertarian Party could not collect the 40,000 voter signatures needed to get her name on the ballot, and she has not reached the $25,000 threshold in contributions that would require her to file a campaign finance report.

Despite the political handicaps, she knows how to get free attention.

Early in her campaign, she talked about how her misdemeanor arrest for marijuana possession in 2002 led her to start the U.S. Marijuana Party.

Then she entertained readers of her campaign Web site with lots of information about her personal life, including a discussion of why she doesn’t wear panties.