Until last spring, Johnny Richey had never voted in a presidential election. “I always say, ‘Mine ain’t gonna count no way,’” he explains. “Who am I going to vote for: Lucifer, the devil or Satan?” But this year, the 56-year-old writer and producer of R&B songs cast his Democratic primary ballot for Sen. Barack Obama, and he didn’t stop there. The day after Obama’s May 18 rally in Portland drew a crowd of 75,000, Richey realized that he wanted to do something to support the campaign. Also, he needed a job.
So every weekday for the past 2 1/2 months, Johnny Richey has stood by a blue tent in front of the Piedmont Post Office branch on Northeast Killingsworth Street and 7th Avenue, selling merchandise emblazoned with Barack Obama’s name, or face, or both. He started by selling buttons. He has since expanded his stock to include bumper stickers, yard signs and hats. But mostly he sells T-shirts—black, white and orange shirts reading “Vote for Your President” and “I like Obama, but is America ready for a President with brains?” He thinks he’s sold about 500 shirts since May, for prices ranging from $10 to $15. “I started getting ’em by the fifties and hundreds,” Richey says. “I just turn ’em over.”
Obama may be battling attacks by Sen. John McCain calling him an empty celebrity, but he’s unquestionably a star in one sense: He moves product. NBC News polled gift-shop owners nationwide last month, and found Obama swag outselling McCain wares at a rate of 5-to-1. Some of the merch is a corporate ploy: At Urban Outfitters stores, including the Portland branch on 2320 NW Westover Road, $28 tees feature OBEY’s iconic “HOPE” portrait or self-conscious jokes like “Obama Says Knock You Out.”
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http://wweek.com/editorial/3439/11343/These folks were out in force at the Portland rally. I got a cool one for my SO with a U of O graphic that says Oregon for Obama.
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