• Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
  • Bookmark and Share
  • email
  • |
  • print
  • |
  • rss

tool name

close
tool goes here

Coffee drinkers vote with cups

Sign up for email newsletters now!

Sign up for email newsletters now!

Never miss a McClatchy story

When it comes to that perfect cup of joe, coffee drinkers have lots of choices: decaf or high-test, cream or black.

McCain or Obama?

With election season in full swing, 7-Eleven stores nationwide are providing coffee lovers with a unique way of campaigning for their favorite presidential candidate -- a styrofoam cup with the nominee's name.

Red for Republican John McCain. Blue for Democrat Barack Obama.

Each time someone buys a cup, the results are logged. The convenience store chain keeps a tally of the votes and posts them online at www.7-election.com.

Dan Quinn, a Porsche mechanic who gets his caffeine fix each morning at a Coral Gables 7-Eleven, says he is boosting McCain's numbers in the unscientific poll.

''I'm a Republican -- always have been,'' said Quinn, 31. ``I don't mind people knowing who I am voting for.''

Since the cup campaign began Oct. 1, Obama is ahead by 18 percentage points nationwide.

If history repeats itself, that's good news for the Democrat. Final cup counts from the past two presidential elections -- Bush vs. Gore and Bush vs. Kerry -- mirrored the outcome of votes cast in the polls.

George Auguste, an Obama supporter who poured his coffee into a blue cup at a North Miami 7-Eleven, hopes that is the case this time around.

''We need a change,'' said Auguste, 52, a Miami-Dade Transit bus driver. ``Obama is the man for that.''

And for those undecided voters, there's no need to feel left out.

The convenience store has plenty of cups for you: white ones with the 7-Eleven logo.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

We welcome comments. To post one, you must sign in using either your McClatchyDC login or your login for Facebook, Twitter or Disqus. Just click the appropriate box below.

Please keep your comment civil, short and to the point. Obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. If you find a comment abusive or inappropriate, please flag it for the moderator by placing your cursor on the comment, then clicking the "flag" link that appears. Thanks for your participation.

Recent Headlines

loading...