Blog Post

Mitt Romney or Jim Carrey? You decide!

Buttons, buttons and more buttons. If you listened to many political collectors’ conversations, you might think that’s all the hobby was about: campaign buttons.

Of course, anyone who’s been to a political collectibles show can tell you that this isn’t really the case. But there’s an easier way to find this out these days, thanks to the Internet. Just punch a few selections into Google and you’ll be surprised what you can find. There are sites galore with all types of campaign collectibles for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

I started my search the other night by typing in “Obama Puppet Collectibles” and came up with several different items. There are Obama marionettes, Obama finger puppets and punching puppets too. You can find these items for Romney, too, just by searching “Romney Puppet Collectibles.” The Punching Politicians puppets are probably my favorites, although, as a friend noted the other day, the Romney one looks a whole lot like Jim Carrey.  A word of caution here – don’t just type in the candidate’s name and “puppet” or you wind up with a bunch of political commentary instead.

Obama and Romney Chia pets. Are they ugly? You bet, but fun too.

Chia Pets have been around for a while. Originally they were animals made from terracotta with seeds that you sprouted on them that looked like hair. The political Chia Pets are quite a hoot. A search for them will turn up not only Obama and Romney Chias, but also Ron Paul and one-time GOP contender Newt Gingrich. Are they ugly? You bet. But they’d be fun in a collection.

While it’s not strictly a Romney collectible, one can find a version of Monopoly called Mormonopoly that references Romney in the description.

What might be the oddest 2012 collectibles to be found on the Internet are the Obama and Romney condoms that are being sold. And the slogans on the packages? Oh my.

Not odd enough for you? Keep searching. If there’s a buck to be made, chances are someone is making it out there and you will find it.

Do you have a strange political item for 2012 either in your collection or you’ve seen for sale? If so, email me at Tom@CollectorsQuest.com and let me know about it. I’d love to hear from you.