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Plenty Of Gingrich Campaign Memorabilia Left Over

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now, aside from millions of dollars in debt, Newt Gingrich also has boxes and boxes of campaign buttons and t-shirts to deal with. But the Gingrich campaign might not have that much trouble off-loading those items.

STEVE FERBER: We're selling quite a number of items from Gingrich. There's still a lot of interest there.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

That's Steve Ferber. He and his wife, Lori, deal in presidential and political memorabilia, even memorabilia from hopefuls, like Gingrich, who drop out of the race.

FERBER: They become what we call a quantity candidate, that it's not so much the individual item as it is the volume of items that are available. And we often buy them in boxes, and sometimes crates.

GREENE: Of course, people still have to want what's in those boxes and crates. Ferber says the law of supply and demand does apply to politics.

FERBER: When it comes to political memorabilia, there are two key factors: One is scarcity, and the other is demand. You have to have both for something to be of value.

INSKEEP: Now, one thing that could drive up demand is if Gingrich decides to run again. Either way, we're not talking about big bucks.

GREENE: Just mostly memories of a campaign that ended earlier than the candidate wanted.

FERBER: I don't think there's much of a chance of paying off the millions with their leftover campaign buttons, but we have a big garage, so if they'd like to start shipping items to us, we'd be happy to take them.

GREENE: That's Steve Ferber, one of the founders of Lori Ferber Collectibles in Scottsdale, Arizona. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.