The buttons contain the most colorful slogans: "Obama Mama", "Babies for Obama", "Hockey Moms for Obama", "Felines for Obama", "I'm An Obama Kid", "Barack the Vote", and of course "Yes We Can." There are buttons in French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Hebrew.
Obama button making is big -- but not big enough. Buttons are a hot commodity and like all commodities are valued by supply and demand. There's huge demand and based at least on our experiences in canvassing in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Florida, distribution is uneven. During my phone banking this week, a lady in Miramar, Florida, begged me for information on how she could get one.
Yet in Princeton there seems an unlimited supply. How many? Button makers here estimate they've made at least 30,000. At $2 a piece (the suggested donation price), this translates to serious money for the Obama campaign. [There is scrupulous record keeping: whenever a button or any other Obama merchandise is sold, the purchaser fills out a donation form.]
The Princeton Obama campaign office is a second story operation on the town's famous historic main drag -- Nassau Street, the same route George Washington took while chasing the British after they lost the Battle of Princeton. The office was opened with great fanfare just over a month ago by Liz Lempert and Jenny Crumiller. Crumiller, a passionate local Hillary Clinton primary supporter who is now working hard for Obama, told me that "The button operation grew in a wonderfully ad hoc way...
I bought the first button machine in consultation with Liz and it was so fun to operate we suspected it would be a popular activity for volunteers. Nobody was really in charge at first. Joanna [Dougherty] became the button coordinator after she was always helping out and organizing. At first I printed out all the button sheets, some of which I had made using Adobe Photoshop and a helper file from the buttons4obama website. We have buttons available to people at our voter registration tables and in our headquarters, but we also give them to people walking door-to-door to give away to Obama supporters. The idea is that the money from the donors giving $2 a button allows us to supply at least some door-to-door walkers with them.
The button makers are a very lively and raucous bunch. On weekends and holidays dozens of children are happily punching away on the button machines. At other times, there are seniors, men and women, stamping them out. There's happy chatter and laughter all the time. It's a seven-day-a-week Button Party.
The Princeton Office is one of many Obama button factories all over the country. There is an active internet world of Obama buttons, including the website mentioned above and the popular Button makers for Obama website maintained by Beth McLennan. The Obama website has a section devoted to the button makers.
The Princeton campaign office is full of volunteer math geniuses from the University and Liz has thought of a "Scientists for Obama" button. My own request, which is being put into production, is an Obama button that says "That One."