If you've had a hankering to commemorate the election of President Barack Obama with a T-shirt, keychain, coaster or similar, act now lest you run afoul of the law. Julianna Goldman reports that White House lawyers are looking to control the use of the President’s image, which has already found its way into selling Ikea furniture (“Embrace Change”), flights on Southwest Airlines (“Yes You Can”) and, of course, Ben & Jerry’s “Yes Pecan” ice cream. (Chirps marketing strategist Al Reis, “Now’s the time to latch on to his coattails, because it isn’t going to last forever.”)

“I can’t remember this ever happening to an active politician before, as a spokesperson or as an image for a brand,” said Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media Inc., a New York-based advertising agency. “He’s in the highest profile of any person in the world right now.”

That said, it's not the first time this has happened; in 1989, a cold medicine tried to invoke President George H.W. Bush with a Cold War-themed TV ad. Wakka-wakka. [Bloomberg]

God bless John Waters, who imparts words of wisdom via BBCNews.com for President-elect Barack Obama in what may be the single best use to date of video on the internet. Click here to watch (sorry, no embed available). [BBC News]

OK, John McCain, we get it: You'll never be president, but you are and always will be The Angriest Man In The World. In August, Jackson Browne sued McCain for using his song "Running On Empty" without permission. This week, Eriq Gardner reports, McCain responded with two 20-page motions: one's to dismiss the charge under "fair use," the second is to collect attorney fees and other costs under a statute that defines Browne's case as a SLAPP, or a "strategic lawsuit against public participation" -- in other words, it's the hippie who's the free-speech bad guy. Well played, McCain. [THR]

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This is how bad it's gotten: the Sundance Film Festival, an event that (fairly or not) has become synonymous with sponsorship, is looking to the state of Utah for financial aid because corporate purses are drawn tight. According to NPR, "Organizers recently met with state officials and said the film festival is good for the state's economy. An official with the Governor's Office of Economic Development responded that everyone is having a tough time right now." And the timing for this potential handout is, shall we say, awful. There's already talk of a Sundance boycott in the face of the passage of Prop. 8, the logic being that Mormon hotbed Utah is a "hate state." Among the strong arguments against such a protest is that Park City, while in Utah, is not of Utah. If the festival were to receive state funding, would that logic still hold?

Good morning. If you missed last night's Barack Obama interview on "60 Minutes," here it is:

The video is brought to us by Pfizer/Viagra, which also sponsors my much-adored repeats of "Mad Men." When did Viagra become the go-to sponsor for video on demand?

This was a good week for the culture jammers. First the Yes Men distributed 1.2 million copies of a fake New York Times announcing the end of the Iraqi war; then, indie filmmakers Dan Mirvish and Eitan Gorlin wrote a new play for the How To Get Ahead in Hollywood handbook: Create a political pundit, make him famous and then confess that he doesn’t exist.

The NYT broke the “Martin Eisendstadt” story Thursday, explaining that the would-be John McCain pundit who publishes a blog, operates a Washington, DC consultancy and is the subject of multiple YouTube videos as well as the apparent subject of a BBC documentary, is actually the creation of filmmakers Mirvish (co-founder, Slamdance Film Festival) and Gorlin, whose “The Holy Land” won the Slamdance grand jury prize in 2002.

Eisenstadt was initially created for a sitcom Mirvish and Gorlin are pitching, “The Pundit.” With Gorlin portraying the character in popular YouTube videos, the myth remained relatively intact throughout the election cycle; sources ranging from CNN to the Huffington Post took his existence on faith.
Mirvish and Eitan also manipulated the spin cycle to spread rumors that Paris Hilton was feuding with McCain, that Sarah Palin received a $900 spray-on tan and that Joe the Plumber had a tryst with SNL's Kristen Wiig.

However, Mirvish and Gorlin decided to reveal themselves the week after the election, when reports surfaced that an anonymous McCain source said Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent.

“Someone said it, but it wasn’t us,” Mirvish says. “So we took credit for it.”

Mirvish posted the claim Tuesday on Eisenstadt’s blog and then spent a few hours at the American Film Market. By the time he got home, MSNBC’s David Shuster was reporting the Eisenstadt-Africa connection as a breaking news story.

Eisenstadt’s political career may be over, but Mirvish and Gorlin’s has just begun. They already have received an offer from the publishers of Sacha Baron Cohen’s  “Borat” book. And, says Mirvish, “We still think he's a brand. We're doing meetings next week. Eisenstadt still has to carry on.”

Mirvish is nothing else if not persistent. He made his first film, "Omaha," in 1995; when Sundance rejected the comedy for its lineup, Mirvish responded by launching Slamdance. When he wrote and directed the “real-estate musical” "Open House" in 2004, he raised a ruckus when the Academy refused to activate its live-musical category that year.

I spoke with Mirvish as he was preparing and shuttling his three kids to school on Thursday morning. His wife, a doctor, had worked the night shift.

Did your agent know you were doing this? Or anyone else in the industry?

It's very generous for you to presume I have an agent. I've had a few over the years; I don't have one right now. There's a number of people in the TV world who knew about us and our shenanigans -- production companies, networks. JJ Abrams' company Bad Robot, Paramount TV, CBS, Comedy Central, Sony TV, Ashton Kutcher's company...

So basically, it was a massive left-wing conspiracy?

Looks good, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it's a well-designed and utterly phony spoof, one that was handed out in New York this morning at subway stations around the city. Writes Sewell Chan:

The paper is dated July 4, 2009, and imagines a liberal utopia of national health care, a rebuilt economy, progressive taxation, a national oil fund to study climate change, and other goals of progressive politics.

The hoax was accompanied by a Web site that mimics the look of The Times’s real Web site. A page of the spoof site contained links to dozens of progressive organizations, which were also listed in the print edition.

(A headline in the fake business section declares: “Public Relations Industry Forecasts a Series of Massive Layoffs.” Uh, sure.)

Later on Wednesday morning, the Yes Men issued a statement claiming credit for the prank. The statement said, in part:

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street.

The Yes Men were also the subject of a 2003 documentary directed by Chris Smith, Sarah Price and Dan Ollman. [NYT]

How did indie film become inextricably linked with Prop. 8? First, there was the question of whether an earlier release date for Focus Features' "Milk" might have helped defeat the ban on gay marriage. Now there's talk of a 2009 Sundance Film Festival boycott -- the connection being that Sundance, like the Mormon Church, is based in Utah. However, Mormons devoted tens of millions in both dollars and man-hours to support the California constiutional amendment that defines marriage as a heterosexual act; Sundance, of course, did not.

The idea of a Sundance boycott was initiated by John Aravosis, a gay-rights activist who writes americablog.com and has also organized boycotts of Dr. Laura Schlesinger's TV show, Microsoft and Ford over gay rights issues. Avarosis told Brock Vergaris, "Large donors are involved who are very interested in organizing a campaign, because I do not believe in frivolous boycotts. The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand. At this point, honestly, we're going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state."

Vergaris points out that a boycott "would likely do the most harm in Salt Lake City and Park City — two of the state's most liberal cities and those with some of the smallest percentages of Mormons in the state." And the Sundance Film Festival responded Monday with this statement: "Sundance Institute was founded on the idea of championing diversity and freedom of expression. It would be a grave disappointment to us if our Festival were to be singled out for a boycott, especially as we celebrate 25 years of showcasing independent voices."

Sundance, which is about a week away from locking down its 2009 lineup, already has its defenders, Eugene Hernandez reports. Allison Anders ("Gas Food Lodging") wrote on Facebook, "Sundance was for decades one of the tiny few hands that fed gay filmmakers, women filmmakers, browns, blacks, reds and everyone underrepresented on the screen... If people continue to misplace their rage over Prop 8 passing, they will change not one thing." Ross Katz ("Lost in Translation") also chimed in on FB: "The idea of boycotting Sundance is totally misguided... They offer a voice - a loud, uncompromising voice - for filmmakers of all ethnicities, sexual orientations, political bents. Those voices are shouted from the mountain tops of Park City. If anything, take the amazing platform that Sundance is, and run with it." [AP, indieWIRE]

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In the election aftermath, Kristopher Tapley poses an intriguing question: "Could an earlier ‘Milk’ release have killed Prop 8?" As he points out, much of "Milk" is dedicated to the fight against Proposition 6, a 1978 ballot measure that would prevented gay people from working as educators. "The parallels between the campaign chronicled in the movie and the real-life battle over Proposition 8 are striking," he writes. "Harvey Milk (Sean Penn’s career-best portrayal) makes the point, to paraphrase, 'We have to make them understand that they know us.' That message, I think, might have carried a lot of heft if voters had made it to the polls four weeks later.... A studio’s priority is, of course, to shareholders, and 'Milk' is likely to make more money in its current release plan than something earlier in the season. But you can’t help but wonder what might have been. And you can’t 'give ‘em hope' after the fact." (As I posted this, an email from Focus Features arrived to remind me that "Milk" release dates begin November 26.) [In Contention]

Kirsten Dunst has teamed with Jacob Soboroff and Participant Media to direct and produce as-yet untitled documentary about how Americans vote. The actress plans to narrate the documentary, but doesn’t know yet whether she will appear in it. They met when she offered Soboroff performance tips while recording election commentary for National Public Radio; Soboroff is also the director of nonprofit Why Tuesday?, which works to increase voter turnout. They're currently in North Dakota, the only state that doesn't require its residents to register to vote. Click on the video to see Dunst and Soboroff travel to Norwalk, Calif. last month to cast their absentee ballots. [AP]

Rupert Murdoch's biographer, Michael Wolff, is convinced that the reason for today's New York Post "Obama coronation cover" is because "Murdoch and the Post made a mistake. For Murdoch it's a galling mistake because he had wanted to endorse Obama." The Post, of course, announced its McCain endorsement just after the Republican convention. Says Wolff, "This might be my fault: In a column I wrote for Vanity Fair in September, I said that Murdoch had a crush on Obama. The Post's McCain endorsement, which came a week later, might have been a way to say nobody tells Murdoch what he's going to do.... The historic change that the Post announces today is as much about Murdoch trying to catch up with historic change as it is about an Obama victory. [Newser]

Anticipating massive viewer interest, networks are "pulling out all the stops for Tuesday's election, seeking to outdo one another with technological wizardry and scores of political analysts," Matea Gold reports. CNN will use hologram technology to beam correspondents' 3-D images onto its Election Center set; NBC will project a U.S. map on Rockefeller Plaza's ice skating rink, where states will turn blue and red as votes come in. ABC will be kicking it old school, content to merely post results on three massive screens in Times Square. [LAT]

Death is not enough guarantee that your music won't be connected to John McCain. Mickey Leigh, brother of the late Joey Ramone and a veteran of the downtown New York music scene, emailed the following release this morning: "It has been brought to my attention that Linda Cummings, using the name 'Ramone,' has recently been in the media joining with the Palin family and the McCains to attempt to aid their campaign for the Presidency. As a President of Ramones Productions, and brother of Joey Ramone, I just want it to be clear that Linda Cummings does not represent the political views of the Ramones. Surely, as for Joey Ramone, the only Ramones song he would sing at a Republican campaign event would be 'Glad To See You Go!' "

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Hollywood's dreams of a post-election Sarah Palin as a right-wing Oprah? May be illegal. Hillel Italie and Anne Sutton report that Alaska has an ethics act that "restricts outside employment" and applies specifically to the state's executive branch. Namely, "The head of a principal executive department of the state may not accept employment for compensation outside the agency that the executive head serves." David Jones, Alaska's senior assistant attorney general, said the act "likely applies to the governor but it's not clear what constitutes 'employment.' " Presumably, creation of something like "Straight Talk! with Sarah Palin" would fall "outside the agency." [AP]

If Hollywood directors made John McCain's attack ads... we wouldn't notice, since they'd be every bit as ineffectual as his campaign. Partisanship! Sorry; wasn't looking for a cheap shot so much as an excuse to post these videos, which contain this cubic zirconia of "Juno" dialogue: BRISTOL PALIN: "Look Levi, remember how we thought that my uterine wall was a nonstick surface and we threw your baby paste up at it? I've got a bun in the Easy-Bake with your screen name on it."  [Cinematical]

And this one's better, if only to hear Justin Timberlake tell Steven Spielberg, "I can do anything. I was in a f... boy band, OK?"

Is Hollywood already preparing Sarah Palin's second act? Says former "Early Show" producer Steve Friedman, "Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great. The passion she has on each side, love and hate, makes television people say, 'Wow, imagine the viewership.' " And, according to Andrew Wallenstein and Steven Zeitchik, "as more and more polls cast doubt on the McCain-Palin ticket, producers and agents across the entertainment world are discussing possibilities for capitalizing on her fame, ranging from an Oprah-style syndicated talk show to a Sean Hannity-like perch in cable news or on radio." One producer admitted to internal staff meetings to discuss "how to best parlay Palin's appeal and skills, with a daytime talk show the likely vehicle." And RDF USA's CEO, Chris Coelen, says, "I see her less as a variety-show host like Ellen (DeGeneres) and more of a single-topic host like Tyra (Banks), or maybe what Jenny Jones used to be." [Hollywood Reporter]

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From Wilshire & Washington. Appropriately surreal.

Do-gooding celebrities will be happy to know that their tireless creation of voting PSAs isn't for naught. The journal Mass Communication and Society published a study of 305 Washington State University students that determined "Celebrities have the power to motivate civic engagement regardless of [the individual's] own grasp of the issues at hand." The study researched the influence of 2004 voting campaigns that involved figures such as Beyonce Knowles, Christina Aguilera and Sean Combs. However, Michelle Nichols points out that the study "contrasted with a number of other polls which indicated celebrity endorsements of presidential candidates were unlikely to sway votes." [Reuters]

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OK, at this point will anyone let the McCain campaign use their music? Earlier this week, it was the Rolling Stones with "Start Me Up;" now Jon Bon Jovi is crying foul, specificially over "Who Says You Can't Go Home" being used this week during rallies by GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin. Like other musicians who have released statements chastising McCain for unauthorized use of their music -- including Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne and Heart -- Bon Jovi is a Democrat. However, if it makes McCain feel any better, "Sam Moore has also asked for his songs to not be played at Obama events." [BBC News]

Would-be voters in North Carolina, Missouri, Colorado and Wisconsin are receiving "robocalls" from the Sen. John McCain campaign claiming that Barack Obama put "Hollywood above America." Click here to hear an audio of the call, but here's a sample: "On the very day our elected leaders gathered in Washington to deal with the financial crisis, Barack Obama spent just 20 minutes with economic advisers, but hours at a celebrity Hollywood fundraiser. Where are the Democrats' priorities?" However, Greg Sargent says the calls are "another sign that Republicans are seriously worried about losing the traditionally red state (of North Carolina) to Obama." According to the New York Times, Missouri leans toward McCain, Colorado is a tossup and Wisconsin leans toward Obama. [Talking Points Memo]

>> RELATED: James Taylor to spend three days stumping for Obama in N.C. [The Set List]

It's directed by Corey Rosen, an F/X guy who's been a creatures supervisor for "Iron Man," "Grindhouse" and "Pirates of the Carribean." Has received more than 2 million views on YouTube since it was released two weeks ago.

The Republican Party apparently subscribes to the theory that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission; once again, they've used a song in their campaign without asking. This time, it's Foo Fighters' "My Hero." The band's statement follows (props for the use of "perverts" as a verb):

"This isn't the first time the McCain campaign has used a song without making any attempt to get approval or permission from the artist. It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that 'My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song--and start asking artists' permission in general!" [Prefix Mag]

Sarah Palin impressions are the new "Chocolate Rain." The Palin impersonators (or are they impersonating Tina Fey impersonating Palin?) clutter the web, writes Luchina Fisher. And while there's been talk of Palin trying to turn the tables with her own "Saturday Night Live" appearance spoofing Fey -- a move that would echo Richard Nixon uttering "Sock it to me?" on "Laugh-In" in September 1968, at the height of his successful presidential campaign -- that may not be a smart strategy. Says Syracuse University pop culture professor Bob Thompson, "It would be great if she could go on a snobby serious discussion show and blow everybody away. You ultimately want to distance her from Tina Fey, not point out how similar they are." [ABC News]

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Republican Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin may appear on SNL's Weekend Update to roast her own impersonator, Tina Fey, according to Bill Zwecker. The Alaskan Governor would portray Fey in an American Express commercial during this week's Thursday night premiere of "Weekend Update" (October 9, 9:30 pm PST). Palin and her reps are reportedly eager to return the late-night jests, especially in primetime. Fey, who has appeared on the NBC comedy three times in the past four weeks, most recently skewered Palin's debate with Sen. Joe Biden, with guest host Queen Latifah as PBS moderator Gwen Ifill. Watch below. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Diddy takes to his blog to go Blair Witch on Sarah Palin. ABC News has a roundup of other celebrities' Palin opinions here.

Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show," Rosh Hashanah. [via Silicon Alley Insider]

This morning's AP poll shows Barack Obama leading John McCain by seven points and Andrew Cherwenka says he knows why: "The Obama campaign is embracing the web and fully leveraging the power of social networking," he writes. "The McCain campaign is not, and they're paying the price." He points McCain's "woeful neglect of Web 2.0 tools," with a website that doesn't link to Facebook or MySpace, photos that aren't tagged, easily shared or available for comment and "an embarrassingly archaic email tool." By comparison, Obama has 3.2 million fans on social networks, the most-followed Twitter account and 39,000 Flickr photos. [The Huffington Post]

>> RELATED: The Obama campaign buys nonstop airtime on the DISH Network's channel 73 [Politico]

Didn't the GOP's parents teach them not to take without asking? Dave Burdick compiled a list of musicians that the McCain campaign has officially annoyed to date by using their music without permission: Van Halen ("Right Now"), Jackson Browne ("Running On Empty"), Heart ("Barracuda") Orleans ("Still the One") and Frankie Valli ("Can't Take My Eyes Off You"). Noted: The founding member of Orleans and the song's cowriter, John Hall, is currently a New York Democratic congressman. [The Huffington Post]