As the election comes to a head, students have the opportunity to literally wear their political views on their sleeve.

This year's election has caused an avalanche of politically inspired clothing branching from shoes to T-shirts to totes.

The John McCain Web site, johnmccain.com, offers a wide variety in apparel, including an alliterative "Palin Power" T-shirt that features a tube of red lipstick as the "I" in Palin. McCain is also selling hats, pins, bumper stickers and signs.

Penn State Students for Barack Obama sell T-shirts costing around $10.00, Zachary Zabel, president of Penn State Students for Barack Obama, said. The shirts are available at the Barack Obama headquarters, 224 S. Allen St, Zabel said.

"A lot of people from the community come in to buy T-shirts and stuff, but a lot of students get their stuff online," he said.

Zabel thinks wearing politically inspired clothing is a good way to show off political views.

"It's great seeing kids wearing Obama T-shirts and buttons on their backpacks," he said.

For even more Obama slogan wear, students can purchase totes made by Diane von Furstenberg and Marc Jacobs, as well as T-shirts designed by Beyonce and Tina Knowles for House of Dereon, Juicy Couture and Vera Wang on the candidate's official Web site, barackobama.com. The apparel features different slogans like "Change is Awesome," "Dude, Where's The Hope?" and "Stand for Change." All of the featured designers on the Web site are part of "Runway to Change," which was commissioned by the Obama campaign.

"Obama supporters are really creative. I have a "Party like a Barackstar" T-shirt and a "Barry" T-shirt that shows Obama when he was in college with and an afro," Zabel said.

Andrew Natalo, president of Penn State Students for John McCain, said although he isn't surprised by the new flow of political clothing, he is not sure if students are all that willing to spend the extra money on campaign clothes.

"I would like to see everyone wearing McCain/Palin shirts but that's not going to happen. Some people will go to the polls and vote for McCain but they might not think it's worth spending $8 on a shirt," Natalo said. "It's an election year and there is always going to be people out there making shirts for their candidate. It's the natural order of things."

Outside of the campaign-sponsored clothing lies a torrent of unofficial political apparel. For a more subtle display of political views, Keds has designed a variety of shoes for both McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden supporters. The shoes cost around $65 and can be purchased at zazzle.com. Urban Outfitters is another company that is selling a political canvas slip-on made by Toms ($48 at urbanoutfitters. com). Students can choose between shoes displaying a donkey and an elephant depending on which political party they support.

On joinmccainshop.com, there are a multitude of slogans like "Mac is Back" and "Hockey Mom's for Palin." The Web site sells a diverse array of items including mugs, buttons, bags and even baby clothing.

Some students may be fine with showing their support for a candidate through clothing, but others think whom they choose to vote for is a personal matter.

"I really don't think I would wear a [political] shirt. I don't think it is necessary to show your political beliefs so outwardly. I think it's a personal thing," Sara Lucid (senior-advertising) said.

Kasey Koontz (senior-accounting) is still undecided about who he is voting for but said he wouldn't mind wearing attire that supported one of the presidential candidates.

"If I made a firm decision about who I was voting for I would definitely wear a shirt for that candidate," Koontz said.

While a lot of the clothing online focuses around one candidate, there are many different clothing campaigns centered around urging people to get out and vote. Gap has begun a new campaign featuring "Vote for" T-shirts, where buyers can personalize what cause they choose to vote for. The shirts are white and can be purchased for $15 at gap.com.

Students who are interested can also purchase politically inspired clothing in downtown State College at People's Nation, 126 E. College Ave. Their attire includes a "Represent" shirt with a picture of Barack Obama, a "Vote for Change" shirt and even life-size cardboard cut outs of both presidential candidates.