Party America owner Nycki Guest is convinced that mask sales at her Missoula store correspond with the general popularity of the candidate, and thus, foreshadow the outcome of the Nov. 4 presidential vote.
It worked in 2004, she said. George W. Bush masks sold out ahead of John Kerry masks. This year, Obama masks sold out on Oct. 6 - two days before customers cleaned out the McCain rack.
Guest tried to reorder the candidate masks, but her vendor was all out of both, she said.
Spirit Halloween, a seasonal Halloween retailer with 600 stores nationwide, including three in Montana, keeps a tally of presidential mask sales. In the past three presidential elections, the best-selling mask matched the outcome of the race.
Bill Clinton outsold Bob Dole masks in 1996. George W. Bush masks sold more than Al Gore in 2000, and Bush masks won again four years later against Kerry.
This year, the sale of Obama masks holds a hefty 62 percent advantage to McCain's 38 percent, according to the Halloween presidential index. Those numbers include sales from more than 600 stores between Aug. 29 and Oct. 26.
“It makes sense,” said Heather Golin, Spirit Halloween spokeswoman. “Whoever is the most popular, they are going to want to dress up as them for Halloween.”
Many local stores sold out of Obama and McCain masks weeks ago, with a heightened demand for the Illinois senator.
Even more popular this Halloween, though, is McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber, the Ohio man who found stardom during the last presidential debate and who's since come to represent the type of American voter that both candidates are trying to woo.
“You would have made a zillion dollars if you had those (Palin) glasses,” said Melanie Nelson, co-owner of the Spirit Halloween store on South Reserve Street in Missoula. “It's the hottest topical thing.”
The store was stocked with many political masks a month ago, including Obama, McCain, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Obama was the first to go, Nelson said. Now, only Hillary masks remain.
“The Hillary ones are not that cute,” she said.
It seems as though supporters nabbed up the McCain and Obama masks, while those buying the Bush masks are doing so to poke fun, she said.
Palin and Joe the Plumber impressionists have to improvise a bit more than grabbing a mask off the shelf. Most costume shops in Missoula ordered their Halloween stock way before Palin stepped onto the political stage in August, Nelson said. And there was no way of knowing that Joe the Plumber would be popular even a month ago.
Spirit Halloween sold out of its kiddie plumber costumes. But children aren't the only ones purchasing this item, which says “plumber” on the chest and includes the low-rise pants in the back. Adults are squishing into it to go out on Halloween as Joe the Plumber.
“It doesn't even fit them,” Nelson said. “It comes up to their elbows.”
Women have to get creative mimicking Palin, inquiring about clip-on bangs, brown wigs, pageant sashes and even the accessories to pull off gun-toting, bikini-sporting images of Palin. Others are choosing the hockey-mom route with bright lipstick.
Nelson even talked to one lady who planned to stick a bridge in her hair to represent the “Bridge to Nowhere.”
Eva Masin, an employee at Carlo's One Night Stand, said several women have visited the store in search of Palin wigs and pantsuits, she said.
Masin is from Sandpoint, Idaho, Palin's hometown, and the Missoula resident has worked in Alaska and visited Wasilla, she said. Palin doesn't talk like the folks who live there, she said. Palin's got a character all her own, and that's why people want to dress up like her, she said.
“People like to make fun of her,” she said.
And also, she said, because of the number of times she uses the word “maverick.”
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
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Danny Person wrote on Oct 28, 2008 11:12 AM: