Glimpse of a celebrity presidency...

Though the election has been over for more than a week now, and the majority of Americans are satisfied with the result, Obamania has not yet died down. Millions of people all over the country are still swooning over our President-elect, campaigning for him with permanent signs on their lawns and creating plans to weasel their way into the celebration on Inauguration Day.

Now, it is not unheard of for people who acquire free tickets to the inaugural festivities to sell them for profit if they are unable to go, but the immediacy and availability of these ticket sales for the start of the Obama administration is unprecedented. It is only one week after the election and already dozens of tickets have appeared on EBay priced anywhere from $1,000 to $7,500! Can you imagine what the cost will be in January?

According to the LA Times, most of these ticket sellers and scalpers are scam artists who claim they will get the tickets at a later date but demand payment immediately. For some people, it may be difficult to tell the difference as some sites like GreatSeats.com seem to be perfectly legitimate in their offer, but unlikely nonetheless.

The popularity of this event is incredible, as a Google search will result in airlines offering discounts to fly to DC in late January, numerous T-Shirt and paraphernelia sites for Obama gear, even a Barack Obama Gold Coin offer, and not to mention the numerous Obama action figures.

Despite all this hype, it looks like a lot of people will be disappointed this January, as the demand for tickets far exceeds the supply. I wouldn't be surprised to see a single ticket going for $25,000 or more come January. There is even a Facebook event titled "Obama's Inaguration" with more members attending than total tickets available: more than 252,000 facebookers!

Here is another fun, slightly over-the-top piece of marketing: One-of-a-kind Cabbage Patch dolls in the likeness of the candidates auctioned on EBay for charity.

Although, I have to be fair and can't claim that this is the result of Obama's celebrity status. Palin, in fact, sold for more than the President-elect (they were auctioned before election night).

I believe the order was Palin ($19,000), Obama ($8,400), McCain ($6,000) and Biden ($3,550.01). Poor Biden.