Bucks for Morse Button

 This is a follow up to Preston Malcolm's Keynoter article Odd Man Out Wayne Morse of Oregon that first appeared in the Summer 1981 issue. The article identifies the Volunteer Solicitor Bucks for Morse pin as one of the more scarce Morse pins. It seems to be very scarce based on conversations and posts on social media with fellow locals collectors. I have not been able to find one of these pins yet in Oregon. I was able to pick one up a few years ago in one of Norm Eavenson's online sales. I was ecstatic to find one finally! The one I purchased was number 987. Since finding the button and tracking down a few more in other collectors collection I started asking around about what campaign it was used in and who issued it. Little seemed known from other collectors. They just knew like me that it was from the 1950s and was very hard to find. The button is a 3" celluloid pin with a Portland, Oregon union bug on the face. Known numbers in private collections include 41, 331, 592, 610, 848, and 987. If you have one, please be kind and send me your number.

2020 Political Buttons Part 8: Bennet & Patrick Items

The New Hampshire primary has now come and gone. President Trump easily won the GOP contest. The Democratic contest had a fair amount of competition. In the end, Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete seemed to be the top two finishers. After the problems in volunteer reporting of the Iowa caucus the week before, politicos were excited about the first state-administered primary. Instead of taking days to report results, we had the results within hours.

Each election night we see winners move onto the next state and we see some candidates bow out of the race. The night of the New Hampshire primary we saw three prominent candidates end their campaigns.  Andrew Yang or New York, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, and former Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. We will look at a small selection of items from the campaigns of Bennet and Patrick in this post. Yang had a large following and produced many items during the primary. That we will cover in a stand-alone post.

Bennet Items

Senator Bennet used bumperactive store to fulfill items purchased from his campaign. Two buttons were sold via the online store. They both have a CWA union bug on the face. One is a generic Bennet for America pin and the other is a neat Bet on Bennet button. It is possible this button with the gambling theme was intended to appeal to Nevada, which is next door to Colorado.