(Enlarge) Mike Gimbel shows off some of his extensive collection of political memorabilia. The collection fills an entire room of his Mays Chapel home and includes buttons, nail files, fly swatters, sheet music and carved figurines. (Staff photo by Drew Anthony Smith)

The ghosts of political campaigns gone by hang on the walls and hide in end-table drawers in a second-floor room of Mike Gimbel's home.

The buttons, watch fobs and campaign sheet music, some items more than 100 years old, fill what was once a bedroom in his Mays Chapel home.

"I remember I was on a vacation in Cape May (N.J.), and in an antique shop, and found a button, an old Nixon button, and it was really cheap," Gimbel said. "I got it for like two bucks and brought it home and found it was worth 50 bucks and I thought, 'Ooh, this is really fun.'"

Soon, he started focusing on specific presidents and specific elections.

"I really got turned on by the election of 1896, when you had McKinley and William Jennings Bryant, and then (by) Teddy Roosevelt," Gimbel said. "You know, (those memorabilia items) were the oldest ones, they were really cool looking, and they were all over the place. You could find them. Even though they were rare, you could still find them. The more I'd go out, the more I would find things."

The collection has grown way beyond buttons.

In recent years, campaigns in Maryland have cooked up all kinds of unusual trinkets, including nail files and fly swatters. Del. Dan Morhaim frequently hands out small packets of bandages from "Dr. Dan," a play on his occupation as a physician.

William McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign issued a small figurine of a cherubic looking child made from soap. A paper tag, attached by a small ribbon, reads: "My papa will vote for McKinley."

"This is probably the most unique piece I have," Gimbel said. "His whole theme was prosperity, so he put out this piece and you have to imagine this was a pretty expensive piece to put out in a campaign."

Some of the most expensive items come from the campaign of Al Smith, the first Roman Catholic to run for president.

Smith was a Democratic New York governor who ran unsuccessfully for president against President Hoover in 1928, relegating Smith's name to trivia questions and the walls of collectors like Gimbel.

"His buttons are worth way more than anybody else, and he wasn't even president, "Gimbel said. "But he was popular, and his buttons are worth a lot of money. It's crazy."

Gimbel traces his interest in campaign memorabilia back to when he worked as the drug abuse coordinator for then-County Executive Donald Hutchinson.

"When you hang out with Don, you talk about politics and I think he really got me jazzed up about politics," said Gimbel, who went on to work for four more county executives.

From there, Gimbel said he and Bob Hughes, then the county's juvenile justice coordinator, became interested in campaigns and the history of campaigns. It wasn't long before the two were haunting flea markets and yard sales, looking for tiny bits of political Americana.

"Both of us started just picking stuff up and the next thing you know we were, like, really into it and we got kind of fanatical about it," Gimbel said. "I think we got a little bit competitive."

Gimbel is currrently the director of Powered by Me, a steroid education program at St. Joseph Medical Center. Before that, he was director of the Office of Substance Abuse Education at Sheppard Pratt Health System for five years.

Gimbel generally stays away from memorabilia of the more recent elections.

But the current election, with Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, is historically significant, he said.

"I'll make sure I have something," Gimbel said.

Then he smiles.

"I'd like to get those action figures, I think they're pretty cool."

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