A Stimulus In His Own Image

But no one has seized on the Obama keepsake market with quite the ambition of A.J. Khubani, the president of TeleBrands. The New Jersey company is best known for creating the "As Seen on TV" logo and selling items like the Flat Fold Colander, the Stick Up Bulb and the Pedi Paws, "the incredible nail trimming solution for dogs and cats." On election night, Khubani was watching the euphoria at his home in Saddle River, N.J., and thought, as he put it, "There has to be something we could sell."

By Wednesday morning, he'd hired an artist to design a commemorative plate, with Obama's face and some fireworks on the front, along with the inscription "Change Has Come" and on the back, the electoral count as of election night.

"We had an image in hand by Wednesday afternoon," says Khubani, "we had a prototype on Thursday, and the plates arrived at the shoot on Friday morning."

The commercial was edited over the weekend and went on the air a few days later.

"Yes you can . . . own a piece of history," booms a narrator in the ad, which can now be seen all over cable television, "with a bonus display stand and a certificate of authenticity, for $19.99."

Khubani expects big things from this tchotchke. He's ordering 1 million of them. Sadly, the manufacturing upsides of the "victory plate" won't be part of the Obama economic mini-surge here in the United States.

The plate is being made in China.