Inna rock star style...

In about 16 cities, Obama sold "tickets for $5 to $35 for events that attracted a total of 42,500 people -- about 15 percent of his roster of contributors." In addition, Obama has done "about half a dozen" large unpaid events, like the one in Oakland where 10,000 attended for free, "but spent $40,000 on Obama T-shirts, baseball caps, buttons and other knickknacks."

As a veteran of a merch table shift or two myself, I'm kind of abashed that I never thought of it for one of my political clients. Every button sale becomes a donor? Why not. It's brilliant, in its way.

Another one for the 'credit where it's due' file.

Of course, as the Obama camp admits, it's about impressing the high dollar donors, maybe as much as, maybe more than, building a grassroots movement.

Think all those bankers got a button too?