NBC NewsWe've had the Bubba Gap. The Women Gap. And now comes the "Gift Gap." At political gift stores across America, Barack Obama schlock is outselling John McCain schlock at least five to one, according to interviews NBC News conducted with gift-shop retailers and t-shirt manufacturers.
That would mean that five times as many Obama t-shirts are on the streets…five times as many Obama bumper stickers are junking up cars…and five times as many Obama bobble heads are wiggling on desks across America.
At the Capital Noveltees manufacturing plant in Washington, DC, for example, demand for Obama gift items is through the roof. The firm, a major supplier to retailers nationwide, has sold 54,028 pro-Obama t-shirts since March. During that same period, the company has sold only 5,979 pro-McCain t-shirts, said company owner Susan Benovitz.
"It's not that we're favoring one candidate over another," Benovitz said. "I just know how fast the re-orders come in for Obama."
Omen, or junk political science?
Think the sale of political tchotchkes is a meaningless omen, a false canary in the coalmine for the McCain campaign? Well, consider this:
Bobby Salehi is an assistant district-sales manager for America, the 16-store political-merchandise chain. He's sold gifts in U.S. airports for 20 years, and says every four years he can predict the winner of the presidential election.
"Whoever sells the most t-shirts usually ends up winning," he says.Salehi says that McCain is getting trounced in t-shirt, hat and mug sales at all the America shops, in Virginia, Maryland, DC, and New Jersey. The same numbers hold true for McCain at the Political Americana shop by the White House……….
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