Obama win sparks memorabilia craze

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's election victory has sparked an unprecedented demand for commemorative merchandise, industry analysts say.

Despite a poor economy, consumers are clamoring for Obama-themed T-shirts, buttons, bobblehead dolls, coffee mugs, wine bottles, magnets and many other kinds of memorabilia, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

"It's the biggest thing for publishing since Harry Potter," Dermot McEvoy, a senior editor at Publishers Weekly, an industry trade journal, told the Times, saying there are at least nine books about the president-elect set to hit the shelves in the next few months.

"This is phenomenal -- I've never seen anything like it in my life," said Los Angeles street vendor Edward Robert El, 64, who told the newspaper as he had sold more than 3,000 buttons featuring photos of Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

T-shirt seller CafePress.com, which markets merchandise designed by its users, told the newspaper it has 2.8 million different Obama-related items for sale, including "That One Won" T-shirts and "Dream Realized" tote bags.