The GOP field is dwindling, and like in nature, its survival of the fittest – and only the strongest will survive in this race.

Earlier today, Rick Perry made the announcement that his presidential campaign is over – making him the second candidate in a week to drop out of the race (Jon Huntsman left the race on Monday). Perry also made a point to endorse Newt Gingrich, one of the four remaining candidates in the race.

That leaves Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul to duke it out on Saturday in the South Carolina primary. By Sunday, there may be another candidate we see drop out of the race.

While Romney may seem like the frontrunner, new news from Iowa shows that Santorum – and not Romney – was the actual winner of the caucus of their state by less than 40 votes. This may throw a wrench into what Romney saw as an initial victory, and may in fact boost Santorum moving into this Saturday.

Out of the remaining candidates, whom do you foresee winning? And who are rooting for to go against Obama in November? Keep up with our Cultural Barometer elections Meter graph for all the latest info in politics.

Back in September we hosted a DWTS t-shirt design contest where the winning t-shirt’s creator would win a trip for two to LA for the finale.

Our winner, Tanya Pedersen, shared her experience with us – and what an experience it turned out to be. Here’s a photo of Tanya with Season 13 DWTS winner JR Martinez – holding up her winning t-shirt with a design of that was about none other than JR himself! And he signed it, too. Congrats to Tanya on a job well done…we’re kind of jealous you got to hold the mirror ball trophy.

We understand that the holidays are a stressful time in a lot of ways – working long hours, crazy in-laws to entertain, too many cookies. We don’t want you to eat your feelings this holiday season. But the wonderful thing about the season – in our opinion – is being able to spend quality time with your loved ones. They can live across the country, around the world – but holidays give us all a reason to come together in one (or many) places to just…be.

Maybe this isn’t always possible – especially if finances are tight.

That’s why we’re pleased to launch our CafePress Holiday Sweepstakes – which features a grand prize of $2,000 in FREE airfare (in the form of gift cards), as well as a $250 gift certificate to use on CafePress.com. This basically means a free flight for you or a loved one…and you can come bearing custom gifts from CafePress (Score. Winning.).

All you have to do to enter for a chance to win is visit our Facebook page, like our page, submit an entry form, and you’re entered. Another great tip to remember: the more people you refer who also enter, the more additional entries you get in the sweepstakes!

In the meantime, we hope you’re taking it easy on this Black Friday. Maybe laying around on the couch, or making Thanksgiving leftovers sandwiches. Jingle bells is already stuck in my head.

The Presidential Elections spawn a political revitalization of new opinions and platforms, partisan clashes, letdowns and triumphs over the course of months leading up to the most important political day: November 6, 2012 – voting day. The day we as U.S. citizens not only rally our support behind a candidate with our words, but with the action of voting. And for next year’s election, we’re already seeing some interesting metrics unfold within CafePress political sales of merchandise.

Back in 2008 as the race between Barack Obama and John McCain heated up, we took notice of the political designs by our community of users and sales from those designs. It was interesting to see how sales percentages of political-tagged products were on point with each candidate’s popularity in the polls – and we could try to predict who would win the 2008 Presidential Election. Hence, the origin of the CafePress Election Meter™ was born, and was correct in forecasting the inauguration of current incumbent, President Barack Obama, as well as showing CafePress as a Cultural Barometer® of trends in the election cycle.

Fast-forward to today – November 8, 2011. We’re 363 days away from the 2012 Election, and proud to introduce the 2012 CafePress Election Meter for your one-stop shop on politics updates and self-expression through merchandise. To celebrate, you’ll find a special $10 t-shirt available for each candidate, and you’ll also see some unique graphics and charts of trends based on sales percentages of political-tagged merchandise that will update each week on our election meter:

Overall candidate sales – 2011.  This graphic represents total 2011 political-tagged merchandise sales percentages to date for all candidates. This includes all GOP candidates plus incumbent Barack Obama. Ron Paul leads with 41% of the total, followed by Herman Cain with 21% and Obama with 14%. Interestingly enough, this is the first time since 2008 that another candidate (and in this case, two) took the #1 slot away from Obama. Does this mean Obama’s popularity is starting to weaken?

Pro-Obama VS. Anti-Obama. What’s more interesting than comparing Obama to himself? For those who support Obama, and those against him, this infographic conveys the sentiments of those who design and purchase Obama merchandise on CafePress. From sales percentages of Obama-tagged merchandise, 77% is anti, and 23% pro to date in 2011.

Weekly Results. On a weekly basis, you’ll be able to see which candidate saw the largest increase in sales from the previous week. This graphic can communicate what we’re seeing in terms of candidate popularity. Currently, the buzz is around Herman Cain, who dominates 50% of the total sales percentages of political-tagged products for last week; Ron Paul follows Cain with 24%.

Take a look at our elections meter every week to stay up to date on the current trends on the election cycle. Support your candidate of choice, and let’s see where these predictions will go on November 6, 2012!

We ran a fun Sweepstakes for two weeks on our Facebook page that ended on Monday.  We were giving away FREE Flip Mino HD Cameras – 6 to be exact – to each winner. One Flip Mino to keep, and 5 to give away to friends and family. We have our winners! And after thousands of entries, the drumroll…

Congratulations to Susan Macdonald and Ashley Alward who were our lucky winners of 6 Flip Mino HD cameras each.

If you weren’t one of our winners, don’t fret just yet – because you should stay on the lookout for more exciting sweepstakes and contests like these on our Facebook page very soon – not to mention very special, exclusive offers we’ll be posting as well. To stay up to date on all the fun and games to come, Like us on Facebook and stay tuned for more!

Life is about capturing memories. The good times and experiences you make with family and friends. And photos and videos definitely come to the rescue in the capturing memories department.

With that in mind, CafePress is hosting a fun sweepstakes on our Facebook page – Like us on Facebook and submit an entry form, and you’re automatically in the running to win 6 Flip Mino HD cameras.* Yes, you read that right – SIX.

While that number may seem a bit excessive, we like to think of it as paying it forward – you’re helping spread the love far and wide to your friends and family, prompting them to snap those pictures and videos so you can all look back on them in 20 years and laugh at how ridiculous everyone looked from their hairstyles to their fashion. Just kidding.

But really, check out the CafePress Facebook fan page for all of the details and information on how to enter. It’s super easy, and you could be one of two lucky winners to get 6 Flip cameras. So enter, share with your friends (making sure they’ll give you one of the Flips if they win), and keep watch for more sweepstakes on our Facebook page in the future. We hope it’ll make you flip. Bad joke, but good sweepstakes.

* NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Open only to persons, who as of Entry, have “Liked” CafePress’ page and filled and submitted the entry form, and who are 18 years of age or older, and legal residents of, and physically located within, the 50 U.S. or DC. Sweepstakes starts at 12:00AM PST on September 19, 2011 and ends at 12:59PM PST on October 3, 2011. Click here for Official Rules.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

There was much to discuss on Monday night, as eight Republican presidential candidates took to their microphones to speak up on controversial issues such as “Obamacare,” and social security in the first Tea Party debate in Tampa, FL. Candidates included Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and businessman Herman Cain, who offered their opinions on their platforms and jabs at other candidates. The main target of the night turned out to be Rick Perry; the Texas governor was asked about his views on social security and offering college tuition cuts to illegal immigrants but defended himself and his views to his opponents.

So here at CafePress, we took to our own Cultural Barometer poll – and we asked our Facebook fans whom they thought was the strongest contender from the Tea Party debate, and the result was obvious:

Our followers are feeling the Ron Paul revolution, as Mr. Paul received approximately 52% of the votes.

Similarly, we took a look at sales of CafePress products by candidate, and again, Ron Paul came out victorious this week with 51% of the participating Republican candidates sales to date:

What do you think of the latest debate? Are you Team Ron Paul, or see another candidate as the strongest and best leader for our country? Tell us your thoughts.

Well, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Again. The rock being the Talking Dog pajamas you really really want to get mom for her birthday, and the hard place being that you don’t know if you can order them.

And this is where CafePress swoops in, with the help of your family and friends.

We have a new, unique feature called Split the Cost – which may sound self-explanatory – but it’s a lot more fun than you think! For any product that costs more than $35.00 on our site, you’ll see this little gift icon on the page:

Once you click on it, another page will pop up for you to fill out the details of why having these pajamas are dire to your existence:

Simply reach out to friends or family via e-mail (Gmail and Yahoo) or Facebook, asking them to help contribute. You can invite as many people as you’d like and split the cost evenly between everyone included, or suggest specific amounts. On the bottom of the window, feel free to include the name of the recipient, select an occasion and enter a personal message to everyone sharing the gift. And once everyone you invite contributes, you’ll receive a gift code to redeem for your “purchase!”

This feature is perfect for sharing costs with your siblings for mom and dad’s anniversary, getting your friend an awesome custom iPad case for their birthday, or getting the hubby a funny sweatshirt from the kids “just because.”

With your awesome new pajamas on, you can thank each of your friends who helped you get warm and comfy during the cold nights that will ensue. A sleepover party may be in order. Then everyone will have to get their own PJs.

2008 turned out to be a year of triumphs, upsets, and a major historical milestone, in the form of the presidential election.

And throughout that year, our community created amazing designs for their favorite candidates – and we started to notice a very interesting trend. We found that we could make an educated guess on who would win based on the sales percentages of CafePress products for each candidate. And from every primary, to John McCain’s Republican nomination, to the election of Barack Obama as the next president, our theory turned out to be right on target. If we could – in a way – help predict the 2008 elections through the popularity of our products, we could measure CafePress as a Cultural Barometer for pop culture and current events. We built the “CafePress Meter” and became a straw poll of sorts.

This year, we’re sensing the anticipation of the upcoming 2012 elections – and we’re already seeing who’s being talked about, and who’s going to make it or break it. Take a look at who’s got the buzz, and who’s going to give Obama a run for his money:

Although Sarah Palin has yet to announce her intentions for the Presidential race, Sarah Palin products have been consistently up for the past nine months. To be or not to be – that is the Palin question. In addition, Ron Paul’s going strong, and Rick Perry has started to take over a bigger piece of the Republican challengers pie since his declaration for the presidential seat in June.

All in all, we’re keeping a close watch on what’s happening, and we’ll be your source for all things politics through products to sport your support. Who do you think has the biggest chance to run against Obama, and who is his biggest threat?

While east coast earthquakes and high-profile reality TV weddings may be a blip on the brains of some, the 2012 election season is certainly coming to a head – well, many heads – in the form of potential candidates planning their campaigns to run against President Obama. And CafePress users are following and creating the trends.

Take Rick Perry, the Texas governor who made his intentions of presidential proportions official this month – and soon after his announcement, Rick Perry gifts were as popular and plentiful as his state’s beloved longhorn.

And also making a splash on Cultural Barometer scene: enter Ron Paul. No stranger to the Republican race to the White House, the House representative has a strong following with Ron Paul Revolution gifts after formally announcing his candidacy back in May of this year.

Politics is already heating up for 2012 – and its only August. I wonder if all those politicians wearing suits in the summer heat has anything to do with it…