By DAVID HERBERT
Forget Christmas. Souvenir stores and street vendors are gearing up to cash in on what promises to be the most profitable inauguration in recent memory.
President-elect Barack Obama has had the Midas touch for tchotchke retailers this year, outselling his Democratic primary rivals and Republican nominee John McCain in T-shirts, buttons and bumper stickers by landslide margins. With perhaps as many as 4 million spectators flooding Washington around Jan. 20, retailers are racing to slap the 44th president's face on anything that might sell. There's a "Barack-in-a-box" toy that plays "Hail to the Chief" when cranked. Or pick up your own "Hope on a Rope," colored purple in the spirit of unity.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Jim Warlick, who operates a memorabilia shop, Political Americana, in the shadow of the White House. He is opening five new locations around the D.C. metro area in the coming weeks to meet the voracious demand for Obama bric-a-brac. Warlick has a hard time meeting demand for Obama bobblehead dolls (McCain dolls are still available).
"In 30 years, I've never seen anything like it," Warlick said, standing in his newest store on 15th Street and New York Avenue, which features an Oval Office set where visitors can snap shots of themselves sitting behind a replica of the Resolute desk.
Another dose of realism: plainclothes Secret Service agents will be roaming the store on Inauguration Day. That may not be a bad idea: Francisco Martin Duran, the Colorado man who fired at the White House with an assault rifle in 1994, was browsing merchandise in a Political Americana store just minutes before he went on his rampage, Warlick said.
Street vendors will have a somewhat tougher time hawking their wares. The city is distributing just 500 licenses -- by lottery -- for food and souvenir stalls in the blocks surrounding the parade route and White House. Applicants also need to pass an FBI background check. Michael Rupert, a spokesman for the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, said his office's phone has been ringing "literally nonstop" from local and out-of-town vendors and that their inauguration e-mail list has 1,200 recipients.
But even if Inauguration Day is a smashing success, can retailers expect the good times to keep on rolling? That will depend on Obama's popularity, and souvenir retailers said their sales predict changes in public opinion as accurately as polls. Jane Crawford, owner of AMERICA!, a chain of 18 political souvenir shops at D.C. airports and around the metro area, said her sales have accurately predicted the winners of the last six presidential elections. And Dave's Gourmet, which sells Obama hot sauce, kept a running tally of head-to-head sales during the primaries and the general election. In the last 90 days of the campaign, Obama outsold McCain 55 percent to 40 percent, not far off the actual 53-46 breakdown.
Obamamania does have its limits. The toughest sell isn't a figurine of Obama defecating. It's Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
"Poor Biden," Crawford sighed. "Quite frankly, there isn't a lot of excitement there, just like there wasn't any marketability for Cheney merchandise."
Some things, it seems, never change.
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