Dem button sales show favorites

GREENVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Never mind the polls. A company that supplies Democratic campaign paraphernalia has its own ideas about who the party’s favorites are heading toward the presidential primary season.

Tigereye Design, based in this city about 30 miles northwest of Dayton, produces buttons, bumper stickers, T-shirts and other Democratic candidate merchandise sold nationwide at party and union events. Sales numbers put U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York out in front among the presidential hopefuls, followed closely by U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said Tigereye owner Tony Baltes.

And, though U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland is barely registering in the national polls, he’s third in sales.

“He may not have a lot of followers, but the ones that are out there seem to buy a bunch per capita,” Baltes said. Kucinich merchandise has been particularly popular among Democrats in Iowa, New Hampshire, California, Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee.

Tigereye expects to sell more than 1 million campaign buttons this year, along with an even larger number of bumper stickers and lapel stickers, 100,000 T-shirts and 30,000 lapel pins.

Baltes said the election next year “promises to be a hell of a ride,” and — as a Democrat and a businessman — he can’t wait.