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Shopping Spree | See also Campaign Websites | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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September 5,
2015
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Jeb 2016
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Carson America www.tedcruz.org |
Huckabee for
President
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Kasich for America johnkasich.com |
Rand
Paul for President randpaul.com |
Perry for
President rickperry.org |
Marco
Rubio
for President marcorubio.com |
Donald J. Trump for President www.donaldjtrump.com |
Scott Walker, Inc. www.scottwalker.com |
Hillary for America www.hillaryclinton.com |
Bernie
2016 berniesanders.com |
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 Democracy in Action decided to go on a fictional shopping spree. |
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 Made in USA. One the back it says "Courageous Conservatives - Reigniting the Promise of America" |
 "This American made Tee Shirt is made of 100% pre-shrunk cotton open-end yarn." |
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 "When you wear this shirt, you're telling the world that you will take the time to cast a vote for the candidate most willing to defend the Constitution." |
 $15. "100% Cotton, Made in USA - Offered in Adult Sizes S-XL with 2016 candidate logo on the front" |
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 "union-made and printed in the USA" |
Total: 12 tee-shirts for $302. Tee-shirts ranged in price from $15 to $30.
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Here's what we found: |
 Set of 4. Not clear why the photo shows 5. |
What?!
No buttons?
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 |
 Description notes that, "It even has a protective covering to help maintain its shine and is scratch resistant like your mamma's frying pan. You should buy a few and use them as gifts for any occasion." |
What?!
No buttons?
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 "Two-pack: Get one, give one. 2.5" official Rand Paul campaign buttons with safety backing." |
 2.25" circular buttons. Buy 1 $2.00 ea Buy 5 $1.50 ea Buy 13 $0.77 ea |
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What?!
No buttons?
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What?! No buttons? |
 "One for you, one for a friend (or go ahead and keep both -- we understand)." 2 per pack. Multiple orders allowed. 2.25" Union Made in America. |
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Total: 16 buttons from 9 campaigns for $58.50. |
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Fourteen of
the 22 major campaigns have online stores as of Sept. 5, 2015, although
the Jindal
store only offers
bumperstickers and the Webb store
has nothing in it at all. The most basic
offerings are signs, stickers and buttons and apparel. Many of
the stores emphasize American-made, or for the
Democrats, union-made. Several stores offer autographed materials
for a premium. Also evident in a few of the stores, the
copywriters clearly had a
bit of fun describing the products.
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 "Jeb and Columba love whipping up guacamole on Sunday Funday. Now, you can get in on the act with this “Guaca Bowle.” Jeb’s secret guacamole recipe not included…yet." |
 A difficult decision: the
Conservative in Training Onsie ($25),
or maybe Sabo Gear or Hunters Gear (camo). Opted for the coloring book. |
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 Bigger is better? |
 Perfect! |
 For the library. |
 It was a close call between the pillow
and |
 Slogans include "The bankers got the better end of the deal." "Psst...pass it on Text BERNIE to 82623" and "Bankers got a bailout and all I got was this lousy pen." |
Total: 7 items for $492. Grand Total Not Spent: $852.50. |
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The Carson America store went up
on Sept. 5, 2015. The eight campaigns without
stores are: Chris Christie
for President, Carly for President, Gilmore for America LLC, Lindsey
Graham 2016, Pataki for President, Santorum for President, Chafee 2016,
and O'Malley for President.
Super PACs with stores include The 2016 Committee (pro-Carson) and Draft Biden 2016. |
 The Jeb 2016
store is fairly limited, featuring a total of 23 items.
Among them are a couple of somewhat odd tee-shirts. - The Vintage Tank ($20) features a photo of Bush from the 1970s when he "had a sideburn-mustache combo that would make Burt Reynolds blush." - The "My Dad" tee ($25) features Bush's quote, "My dad is the greatest man I've ever kown an if you don't think so we can step outside." The product descriptions are a bit creative. There is no "Made in U.S.A." designation on any of the products. |
 The first day
for the Carson America store. No indications of whether things
are American made.
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 Everything in
the store appears to be American made. A signed copy of Cruz's
book A Time for Truth runs $85.
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 A basic
no-frills store.
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 The only
item in the store is the $10 bumpersticker.
The limited edition "Tanned. Rested. Ready." tee-shirts which the campaign had been selling earlier are no longer available. |
 A very basic
store offering stickers, buttons, mugs, hats, and shirts, most
everything in red, white or blue color schemes. Everything is
labeled "Made in USA."
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 Rand Paul for President has the most well developed, well stocked and interesting store of any of the campaigns. Among the interesting items available are "Hillary's Hard Drive with Wiping Cloth" (originally $99.95, reduced to $59.95); autographed copy of Time Magazine ($1,000, "VERY limited supply."); "Filibuster Starter Pack" ($30) including an NSA T-shirt, Bumper sticker and Spy blocker.; the Rand Paul Eye Chart ($20.16 or autographed for $500; and the Giant Rand Paul Birthday Card ($35) which is three feet tall. The campaign
also has the greatest variety of Tee-shirts ranging from the neon green
men's safety runner shirt ($35) to the artistic "ladies freedom burnout
tee" ($35) to four contest-winning designs ( 1) The NSA Knows, 2) John
Paul
Jones, 3) Liberty Bro and 4) Fearless).
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 A very
modest store offering nine items hat (blue), hat (white), men's shirt,
women's shirt, bumper sticker, lapel sticker, buttons, rally signs and
yard signs.
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 In addition to
stuff, one can buy platinum, gold or silver membership. For
example platinum membership gets the buyer:
Marco Polo ($45 value) Automatic entry into all campaign contests Monthly campaign briefings Official membership card Recognition on MarcoRubio.com For bulk
shoppers the Rubio store offers the Chairman Package ($175) or
the Captain Package ($100):
Chairman Package: 10 T-shirts 200 lapel stickers 100 bumper stickers Captain Package: 5 T-shirts 100 lapel stickers 50 bumper stickers |
 "100% Made in
the USA." Four categories: Apparel, Signage, Headwear and
Rally. The Rally section includes mini megaphones ($8), felt
pennants ($8) and spirit poms (set of 2 for $12.50).
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 The Walker store has a very limited selection at this point: signs, stickers, a mug and his book. |
 Three main areas: Apparel, Accessories, Signage, plus New Items, Pride [LGBT] and Summer Saie. Items all appear to be made in America and many are union made in America. Highighted on the main page are a backpack and a case for iPhone 5 and 6. The backpack, union made in America, is $65. "Designed with HIllary's signature arrows, this limited-edition backpack fits everything you need for the day: shool books, Hillary hoodies, and canvassing clipboards alike." For bulk shoppers consider the College Pack ($50):
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 The Bernie 2016 store has fairly
basic offerings. Items all appear to be "Union made in the
USA." There is a "Feel
the Bern" section for products with that slogan and a "Pride" section
for LGBT shoppers.
For bulk shoppers consider the Organizing Pack (Large) for $80: All the Bernie merch you need for a large organizing event. Includes displaying the Bernie logo. 10 Placards (5 white/5 blue) 6 Polybag Yard Signs (3 white/3 blue) 20 Buttons (10 white/10 blue 2.25”size) 16 Bumper Stickers (8 white/8 blue) 50 Lapel Stickers (25 white/25 blue) |
There is considerable room for more creative product offerings from the campaigns and hopefully as things progress some of them will diversify their stock. For example the Walker campaign could introduce items based on his Harley riding or his RV or Wisconsin cheese. The Sanders campaign might try a Vermont product line or some more artistic buttons or posters. |
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Copyright © 2015 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. All rights reserved.