With his Amendment 49 campaign operating on a shoestring, Jon Caldara is hoping to turn a pair of socks into a stack of cash.
But these are no ordinary socks. Up for bid on eBay are the authentic sock puppet stars of Caldara’s recent video advertisement explaining how Amendment 49 works.
CaldaraIndependence Institute
Caldara said the idea behind 49 is so simple that his campaign decided that it could use sock puppets to explain the proposed constitutional amendment's impact effectively. The video, featuring Caldara getting a little fresh with one of the puppets, has already received nearly 6,200 hits on YouTube since it was posted late last month.
“The sock puppets have generated so much media attention, what with all the late night talk show requests like Letterman and Leno, that we decided to cash in on their success,” Caldara said with just a touch of sarcasm.
Caldara confirmed that the socks are indeed his, but with a little help and a trip to local arts and crafts store, he was able to transform them into stars of the video spot.
“They are genuine Caldara tube socks; when you buy these you are buying something my feet have been crammed into,” Caldara said.
Caldara also gave a shout out to a staff member who made the transformation possible. “Julie Mallon won a costume design award for the puppets.”
Caldara is not the first savvy politico eBayer in this year's political game. His southern counterparts, Drew Johnson and Trent Seibert at the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, made waves earlier this year when they paid $1,200 for a caricature of former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-TN.
The caricature appeared on a video made by Jonathan Shockley and Travis Harmon for their popular satirical Web site Red State Update. The video featured a character, played by Shockley, who lamented Thompson dropping out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination. As he attempted to burn the caricature because he so upset the “last true conservative” dropped out, the character played by Harmon convinced him to sell it on eBay and donate the proceeds to a charity of Thompson’s choosing. The rest is Internet history.
Maybe Caldara will be lucky enough to find himself a high bidder for his sock puppets. As of press time, the bidding had reached $26.00.