Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Sun Lite for October 25, 2004

Lisa Ferguson

Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 | 8:14 a.m.

Every sip counts

With just about a week to go before the presidential election, get-out-and-vote messages are seemingly everywhere - even in places you'd least expect to find them. On your coffee cup, for example - assuming you buy brew at 7-Eleven. Earlier this month the convenience-store giant unveiled its line of 20-ounce hot-beverage cups emblazoned with names of George W. Bush and John Kerry. It's inviting customers nationwide, through Nov. 1, to dispense java into the container bearing his or her presidential candidate of choice (don't fret - plain cups for undecided types and third-party backers are also available).

Each Bush/Kerry cup sold counts as a vote in 7-Eleven's completely unscientific, though aptly titled, Presidential Coffee Cup Poll. As of last week, the Bush cups held an ever-so-slight national lead over the Kerry cups (17.66 percent vs. 16.85 percent), though the plain cups were far ahead with 65.49 percent of the votes. In Las Vegas, the margin was even tighter: 22.65 percent for Bush, 22.48 percent for Kerry, while plain garnered 54.87 percent of the votes.

Updated results are available at www.7-eleven.com.

Interestingly enough, the company reports that when it held the poll in 2000, the final results mimicked those of the actual presidential election, with Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore separated by only a few percentage points in most states.

Among the findings of a related survey conducted in September: Bush is the candidate of choice among 48 percent of people who prefer their coffee black, versus 42 percent for Kerry. But, among the cream-and-sugar camp, the senator has one Big Gulp of a lead (50 percent) over the president (36 percent).

Got your number

Another unlikely election hot spot: the screen of your cell phone. Enter SmartServ, a "mobile virtual network operator" headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., which sells its products and services at www.Uphonia.com.

That's also where visitors can log on and download a free Bush/Cheney or Kerry/ Edwards cell-phone screensaver or mobile bumper sticker. Similar to the 7-Eleven setup, each download counts as a nod in Uphonia's "Vote By Phone" mobile presidential election, the results of which will be announced on Nov. 1 on the Web site.

Scent of a winner

Tired of politics as usual? Bored by all the health care-reform and flagrant-spending babble? The people at PartyLite hear you.

In the spirit of the election season, the Plymouth, Mass.-based candle-marketing company is asking folks to forget about the real issues for a moment and instead head over to its polling place, at www.partylite.com/usa, to mark a ballot in favor of his/her favorite candle fragrance as part of the Get Out the Votives sweepstakes.

Log onto the Web site by Nov. 2 and click on a box beside one of the company's three best-selling - and, presumably, best-smelling - nonpartisan candle candidates: orange cranberry, described as "a shining blend of classic American tradition"; vanilla (a "great ambassador of classic good taste"); and strawberry rhubarb (a beacon of "good old-fashioned family values"). Each vote counts as entry for the sweepstakes; one grand-prize winner - to be selected at random on Nov. 15 - will be awarded a trip for two to Hawaii, while 75 first-placers will take home a PartyLite candle package.