The Eagle Tribune
November 1, 2008
McCain, Obama run close in cookie race But Andover baker says anything can happen before election
 
By Crystal Bozek
cbozek@eagletribune.com
   
 
ANDOVER — If cookies were votes, Barack Obama would be looking at one sweet victory.
 
While Perfecto's Caffe owner Max Gabriello has sold thousands of presidential gingerbread men in the past two months from his North Main Street location, he is now calling the election for Obama after tabulating his sales.
 
Gabriello said while it has been a close cookie race at his four coffee shops, the frosted Illinois senator has snagged 45 percent of the sales, while his equally tasty opponent Arizona Sen. John McCain has secured 40 percent.
 
"But there is a 3 percent margin of error," Gabriello said, laughing. "I don't know how close we'll be. ... We don't know if people buy them because they like the candidate, they want to rip his head off, or they just think he's tasty."
 
The North Andover resident started making the gingerbread politicians as a way to have a little fun during the election season.
 
The cookies, made from scratch, are fitted with tiny blue frosting suits and red ties. The McCain cookie even sports little frosting wrinkles and white hair.
 
Since an Eagle-Tribune story led to national attention for his 4-inch-high cookies, Gabriello has been shipping them everywhere from Ottawa, Canada, to Ohio, Washington, D.C., and Georgia. They've won over the sweet tooth of political junkies everywhere.
  He's even branched out, creating shortbread with frosted donkeys, elephants and "Vote" logos.
  Despite being a crowd favorite, Gabriello never brought Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cookies back on the shelves after he stopped making her gingerbread likeness a few weeks into his poll. And Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was scratched because he looked too much like McCain's twin on a cookie sheet.
  "It was just too time consuming to do them all," he said. "She had the glasses, lipstick, a bun and miniskirt. She was cute."
  While making the cookies is time-consuming — they take all day to make, since his staff is pumping out 50 dozen a day — Gabriello said he would do this again in a heartbeat.
  "It's been a lot of fun," he said. "We've interacted more with the customers, and seen a lot of new faces. They start conversations. ... I've had a lot of laughs."
There was the guy who bit off the head of an Obama cookie and threw the rest out
  "I had this guy come in and ask why I sell McCain and Obama cookies for the same price," Gabriello said. "He said, 'Why don't you tax them differently?'"
 
Perfecto's Caffe is open on election day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. He has shops in Andover, North Andover, Tewksbury and Peabody. Gabriello said he will continue selling the cookies as long as customers want them.