Hopefuls wear well online

ATLANTA — John McCain called Barack Obama the celebrity candidate, but as McCain prepares to address the crowd at the Republican National Convention tonight, his own star status is on the rise ... at least among the thousands of shoppers buying political gear.

On CafePress.com, a Web site that sells user-generated merchandise, McCain's surprise announcement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate prompted a two-hour rush of Palin paraphernalia being posted for sale. By association at least, consider it a minor victory for McCain.

"McCain products started to pick up overnight," said Amy Maniatis, vice president of marketing for CafePress. "Picking Palin as his running mate has made him more engaging and fashionable."

Before Palin appeared on the scene, the hipness quotient of Republican merchandise on CafePress.com lagged behind that of the Democratic Party in both medium and message.

Buttons and bumper stickers with staid "McCain 2008" slogans were the stock in trade, compared with Obama merchandise which includes "Ohhhh — Bama" thong underwear and "Obama for your mama" maternity tees.

From November to August, sales of Obama products accounted for 58 percent of all political gear sold on the site, while McCain merchandise hovered around 7 percent.

Maybe it's that Obama supporters are younger. Or that McCain supporters are older (old enough to own cars with bumper stickers anyway). Or it could be that Obama rhymes so well with "mama" and McCain just doesn't. Whatever the reason, McCain products lacked élan.

"When folks care about something enough to express it on a T-shirt, it's because there is an extreme amount of passion behind it, and Obama had more passion behind him," Maniatis said.

On Amazon.com, top search results for McCain merchandise include traditional McCain-for-president tees and "Vote for McCain" baby onesies. Obama top picks in the same categories? A sport jersey with "Obama 08" and "Obama Rocks" onesies.

Former Atlantan Lorielle Brussard experienced Obama's selling power when she and her brother created a "Barack the Vote" logo shirt. "We did it to get more support for Barack," said Brussard, 27, a stylist who started selling the T-shirts more than a year ago when many people had never heard of Obama. "We thought it would just be something we did on the side," she said.

But nearly 40,000 units later, merchandise that initially spoke to the 20- and 30-somethings who recognized the logo's take on the "Rock the Vote" movement of the '90s had spread to supporters of all ages, prompting Brussard to move to Los Angeles and run the company full time.

Nedra Rhone writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.