Political Knockout, The Merchandise is the Message: www.votebushout.biz

For columbia county entrepreneur leslie gabriel politics is business—but not as usual. With the formation of votebushout.biz last spring, which Gabriel describes as a combination of “political campaign, political paraphernalia, and political Web site,” the merchandise is the message.

Fueled by Gabriel’s own political philosophy, the Web site—which offers signs, t-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers printed with slogans such as “Support Our Troops: Vote Bush Out,” as well as links to other like-minded resources—averages 60,000 hits a week. The items have been sold in 40 states to distributors, stores, state parties, and activists. “It pays,” says Gabriel. “You could make a living off of it. But it’s not so much a living. What’s really important is the message.”

The sales also support Gabriel’s appearances at political events, where he harnesses the “combative spirit” Howard Dean’s campaign generated. And how does he do that? He dresses as Rocky (a character based on the Sylvester Stallone movie role) and—in his own form of political street theater—boxes an oversized doll that resembles George Bush, the “Lyin’ King.” “I’ve always been politically active,” Gabriel says. “I ran for office when I lived in Red Hook, and I got really involved in the peace movement. But,” he says, “once the bombs started to drop, I gave up trying to stop the war.”

While sitting in front of his computer “obsessing about the war” one day (he even broke into a rash, which he’s just getting over, he notes), Gabriel had a brainstorm. “I thought, my god, there’s an election coming up. Maybe there’s something I can do.” With extra money left over from the peace campaign, he designed and purchased signs and started selling them. Then in May 2003, he was invited to set up a booth at the Democratic Rural Conference in Lake Placid. “What am I going to do, just stand there?” he recalls thinking. So he decided to take a page from his past.

“In my younger years I used to box, and I thought: Rocky,” Gabriel notes. In fact, Gabriel won the Forest Hills Jewish Center Boxing Award when he was eight years old, and even appeared on the David Frost Show with boxing great Joe Louis. “Some of his spunk rubbed off on me,” Gabriel adds. “I thought I’d take over the very powerful and very American popular issue of Rocky.” So he donned some red, white, and blue boxing gloves and began publicly battling the ‘Lyin’ King.’ “Rocky always wins,” Gabriel adds. During his first appearance, he got five minutes of airtime on msnbc, and decided to follow up by starting the Web site.