After Barack Obama announced that he was considering running for President last month, sales of pro-Obama bumper stickers, buttons, t-shirts, posters and magnets have soared from a quarter of all our presidential election sales to a high 94% share two weeks ago.
Another week has passed, and the surge in preference for Senator Obama as a Democratic party nominee shows no sign of waning. Looking at sales for this past week (November 11-17), items in support of a presidential run by Barack Obama comprised an impressive 67.2% of all election 2008 items we sold — a 0.1% increase in share over the week before. With this additional week of data, the trend plays out like this:
It looks as though support for an Obama run in 2008 has found its new point of stability. Although I’ll check again in a week, I’d be surprised to see this level of support change over a week’s time — unless someone new declares that she or he will run.
Someone, like who? Like Al Gore, maybe. But notice that when Tom Vilsack announced his candidacy, it made next to no impact.
I think if Tom Vilsack announced he was the anti-Christ, it would make next to no impact. Our politics is like a celebrity system, and Vilsack is definitely on the B-list because, well, he is, just like Paris Hilton is famous because, well, he is.
I mean “she.” How could I possibly make that mistake?
I was once hanging out in Iowa with a couple male professors, one who taught a course on Elvis, and they made the statement (with some thinly veiled jealous cattiness) that Elvis was sexy. Without thinking I said no he’s not, and surprised, we all sat there and thought about that. Finally one of them said he’s an icon, and I could agree with that. Paris Hilton is an icon.
Refering to Paris Hilton as “he” is not the kind of Freudian slip that will get anyone in trouble with their wife.