Ron Paul no longer winning T-shirt race

He’s not leading the pack in primary wins, but up until last week, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was winning another kind of battle — in T-shirt sales.

Although he announced he would stop actively campaigning in primary states in May (after Mitt Romney became the presumptive nominee), it seems one website’s consumers were still pining for the Republican presidential candidate’s mug on their wardrobe.

According to CafePress.com, which sells custom shirts and other personalized gifts, Paul had led total-to-date sales of its T-shirts throughout the entire election cycle.

But his streak ended last week.

The site says that for the first time this campaign, another candidate has poached upon Paul’s popularity. According to figures from last week, Paul lost his leading position, with both President Obama and Paul garnering 41 percent of total sales.

But the spike in popularity of Obama paraphernalia might not be all good news for the president.

CafePress notes that last week’s numbers show 41 percent of that merchandise sold was pro-Obama, while 59 percent expressed an anti-Obama sentiment. 

And while Romney has his eyes on the White House, few buyers are eyeing products featuring the former Massachusetts governor. Romney has consistently held steady with only about 17 percent of T-shirt sales on the site.

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