Political posters and fliers are so five minutes ago.Now, political clothing seems to be the trendiest and possibly the most effective way for supporters to campaign these days.Although advocating your candidate of choice on your chest isn’t a recent trend, it has become especially prominent during the 2008 presidential election.And Sen. John McCain, Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Sarah Palin have become quite the faces of fashion.From supportive shirts such as “Barack You Rock,” to negative ones such as “John McCain is a Fossil Fool,” to comedic ones like “I Can See Russia from My House,” there is a shirt for every political bent.CafePress.com, which sells customized merchandise such as T-shirts, offers more than 150 million political products.Of those 150 million items, Obama merchandise is the most coveted.Obama is the frontrunner in political sales, according to the Café Press Meter, which ranks the Web site’s most popular items.As of Oct. 25, Obama has raked in 49.55 percent of overall political merchandise sales. McCain and Palin are neck and neck with 19.61 percent and 16.95 percent, respectively. Sen. Joe Biden lags behind with 7.46 percent.The number of sales and designs of political apparel keeps growing with every word that pops out of these candidates’ mouths.As soon as Palin uttered at the Republican National Convention that the only difference between a hockey mom and pit bull is lipstick, shirts with pit bulls wearing hot pink lipstick sold hot off the printing press.Palin products were at their highest the weeks following the Republican National Convention, according to the Café Press Meter.And after each presidential debate, Obama’s sales spiked, and McCain’s plummeted.But this political T-shirt trend isn’t just limited to Web sites.Storyville in Baton Rouge sells and customizes political T-shirts. Elizabeth Harvey, co-owner of Storyville and University alumna, said the store offers McCain and Obama apparel but has sold more Obama T-shirts.”If I had to guess, the ratio would be one to 40,” she said. “It’s a pretty drastic difference. We have sold some McCain [apparel], but the Obama stuff has continually sold.”Unlike the majority of stores that sell political T-shirts, Storyville primarily makes apparel that is supportive of all the candidates.”Most of our stuff has been positive,” she said. “We haven’t too much negative, anti-McCain, anti-Obama stuff.”Harvey said this particular election has made politics a fashion trend.”Everyone for this campaign has been excited, so they want to have a T-shirt with their candidate,” she said.Obama’s popularity in political merchandise may be attributed to his celebrity appeal, said College Republicans president Chuck Fontenot.”McCain isn’t viewed as the hip, cool candidate,” he said. “Obama is the cool candidate, the in-vogue candidate. All the celebrities endorse him.”Harvey said another reason for the Obama T-shirt trend is that he attracts a younger crowd, which is the main market at Storyville.”I think Obama has a little bit more appeal to younger people,” she said. “And on campus, you will find more supporters because of that.”Ike Boyd, business administration senior, said Obama is much more alluring to the younger generations.”McCain is old and outdated,” he said. “Like an old MS-DOS computer.”Boyd said the only McCain and Palin T-shirts he has seen on campus are negative.”I think more people are wearing Obama shirts than McCain simply because everybody feels as though it’s time for a change,” he said.Tobias Sibley, biological sciences sophomore, said he has not seen many students wearing McCain/Palin shirts.”I think they’re afraid,” he said.Fontenot, on the other hand, said while Obama apparel is more prominent than McCain apparel, he has not seen much of either.”I can count on one hand the Obama shirts I’ve seen on campus,” he said.Fontenot said one reason people have not seen many McCain/Palin shirts on campus is because College Republicans hands out other types of political memorabilia.”We are more of sticker sort of group,” he said. “You don’t have to wash a bumper sticker. I think a bumper sticker is a lot more visible than a T-shirt.”Fontenot said Palin has brought more attention to the Republican Party through clothing.”Since the advent of Sarah Palin on the ticket, I have seen more stuff,” he said. “She brings a little more visibility to the table as far as T-shirts.”No matter which candidate is the trendiest to sport, political apparel may affect the candidates’ campaigns and influence potential voters.Harvey said these political T-shirts are aiding the candidates’ campaigns.”Seeing someone’s name out there helps spread their name,” she said.Charles Wilson, economics junior who owns five Obama shirts, said Obama apparel is helping promote Obama.”If there are people who don’t know about him, people will ask about him,” he said.But Fontenot said he doesn’t think political apparel will ultimately shape the election.”It has made [Obama] more visible, but it will not swing the election,” he said. “God help us if people are voting on who has cooler shirts.”- – – -Contact Drew Belle Zerby at [email protected]