Election 2008: Who’s the Sweetest Candid-ate?
Candidate cookies at Jefferson Market & Cakery. The Chronicle did not ask why McCain's name is printed and Obama is written in cursive.
Combining politics and buttercream frosting – brilliant!
Jefferson Market & Cakery’s Cookie Vote ’08 pits Obama against McCain in the form of sugar cookies iced with red, white and blue frosting and emblazoned with each candidate’s name. As of Wednesday afternoon, Obama was outselling McCain by 66 to 5.
And those 5 cookies might have been bought as jokes, says Melissa Katke. (As in, “Ha! I wonder if I can get him to stomach McCain!”)
Katke kindly took a few minutes out of her behind-the-counter work to explain things to The Chronicle. Owner Mary Rasmussen came up with the idea, and they made the first batch about a week ago. Initially, they made equal numbers for both candidates.
“There’s lots of McCain cookies in the freezer,” Katke says.
The cookies cost $1.50 each and will be sold until the Nov. 4 election.
Cookie Vote '08 tally at Jefferson Market & Cakery.
The Chronicle envisions an even larger market opportunity here: 1) To sell items that aren’t flying off the shelves, just write “Obama” in icing on the piece of cake or container of soup or whatever, and see what happens. 2) The Fifth Ward, where Jefferson Market is located, has a contested city council election in November as well – how about a “Hohnke” vs. “Floyd” cookie-off? This being Ann Arbor, though, the icing for that should be green.
Address: 609 W. Jefferson St.
Phone: 734.665.6666
Hours: Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Even on the tray, Obama beats McCain.