Maybe it’s got to do with the years of hype leading up to last November’s U.S. Presidential Election, or maybe it’s the fact that we launched our Election Index all the way back in July… Or it might even be that we’re just really, really used to seeing Barack Obama as President.

Any way you cut it, the man’s obviously been a newsmaker — especially lately, amongst a swirl of hot-button issues dominating news cycles.

Here at Terapeak, as we recognize the three-month anniversary of his historic inauguration, we’re also still enjoying keeping tabs on his eBay saleability. And not surprisingly, despite his very respectable 65% approval rating as U.S. President, his place among eBay salesmakers has dropped off considerably. Check out these 90-day eBay.com trend lines dating back to inauguration week:

Of course, as you can see, Bids per Listing have not fallen off nearly so drastically, and Obama-related sales continue to compete well with other public figures on eBay… They’re just nothing compared to the frenzy of January’s inauguration events!

As you can see, Spidey’s sales numbers take off around the second week of January, and actually climb so high that they surpass those of Batman — something unheard of since the raging success of The Dark Knight last year.

On that note, going forward, it’ll be interesting to see what effect the upcoming Academy Awards have here. The Dark Knight is nominated for a total of eight awards in 2009, including the one that everyone’s watching — Heath Ledger’s nod for Best Supporting Actor.

We’ll be tuned in to the ceremony and the index!

Tells a bit of the story, doesn’t it?

Re-examining Terapeak’s 2008 election index, released last July, it appears the McCain campaign has come a long way toward bridging the eBay sales gap. Although Obama still holds a comfortable lead in all categories, the oft-proclaimed maverick has pulled within 2.5 “points” of Obama — that is, Obama’s total items sold over the past month are just two and a half times those of McCain.

Now, if two and a half sounds like a lot, consider this: just two months ago, we were reporting Obama outselling McCain by twenty-one times.

You’ve got to wonder if “McCain” is showing up as a keyword on many of these Sarah Palin items…

As the candidates scavenge America for votes this summer, each creates a new market for button-makers and book dealers — but that doesn’t mean the profits are balanced, or even close at all. At the time of writing, McCain-related items had sold 513 times in the last 30 days, for an average price of $8.66; Obama-related sells totaled 10,808, at an average of $19.69 apiece. So who’s controlling the market? Well, for one, the folks making those “Change” tee-shirts.

Put that one up on your big board, Johnny!

Stay ahead yourself in the race to gain from the millions these two spend every day: visit Terapeak now to view the entire index, and click the “i” in the top-right-hand corner to grab your own embeddable widget.