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"It is not wildly profitable," Healey said of his business. "I could push this a little harder, but when it stops being fun, I will stop."

In a sales matchup with other potential presidential contenders, Romney is doing well, the vendors said.

Mudgett said Sen. John McCain's paraphernalia is his top seller, followed by Romney, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.

Healey said items featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are his top draws, followed by those featuring Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, then, in a three-way tie, McCain, Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden and Romney.

Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts is last, he said.

"It almost seems like it's the tech version of the straw polls," said House minority leader Bradley H. Jones Jr., Republican of North Reading.

But Jones said he wasn't interested in Romney presidential gear.

"I don't very often wear campaign T-shirts," he said in an interview in his office yesterday.

Rep. Paul J. Donato, Democrat of Medford, huffed at the notion of buying a Romney-for-president T-shirt. "Is there a T-shirt that says hurry up and leave town?" he asked.

So could the proliferation of Mitt Romney absorbent cotton bibs influence the presidential contest? "It will have no effect on the race," declared Sen. Robert A. Havern III, an Arlington Democrat and frequent Romney critic, "unless he has a good logo, and then of course Nike will buy it up."

Romney, for his part, professed shock at the popularity of his online items.

"I've never heard of it," he said, laughing as he stepped onto an elevator outside his office. "I haven't seen it. I haven't seen a one."

"It almost seems like it's the tech version of the straw polls."