As part of his ongoing series on the New York Times blog Campaign Stops, Steve Heller asked me and three other design industry folk to comment on the merchandise sold by the presidential candidates. In “From Mousepads to Piggy Banks,” Steve also talks to Julie Lasky, my editor at ID, Allan Chochinov, my editor at Core77, and Karrie Jacobs, who is not my editor anywhere but who wrote the awesome book The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home.

Steve has pulled together a nice analysis of the online stores and I love hearing from my fellow design mavens. I am also extremely excited about seeing myself referred to as ‘Ms. Walker.’ But as always, I am probably most entertained by the post’s comments. For example:

Can we stick to matters of substance? The candidates are running for the presidency, not for a contract to run the airport souvenir shop.

A very good point. As is this:

I wonder who made this paraphernalia. Was it all made in USA? Is any candidate selling sweatshop products?

And my favorite:

Hillary is also selling pander and lies.

Long, long ago, before Jabba glamorized the hookah and live frog-eating craze, Star Wars PSAs tried to educate my generation about the evils of smoking and drinking. Carrie Fisher was originally cast in this drinking and driving ad but she showed up on set too drunk to shoot the spot. And just because R2-D2 needs a menthol Kool to soothe his circuits after a long day at work doesn’t mean you should smoke (never mind that C-3PO is operating what sounds like an electronic water bong).

Thanks to Luke Walker. Really.

My identical second cousin twice removed Rob Walker pens the weekly “Consumed” column in the NYT Magazine and the blog Murketing. And last week he gave a commentary on Marketplace about the death of conspicuous consumption. Or, what owning a Prius really means.

I’ve plugged his forthcoming book Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are (although I haven’t been able to read my review copy as my SXSW travel companion hasn’t put it down yet). You can read the first section free of charge and use a promotional code for 15% off plus free shipping, charming concepts for a book about, you know, buying stuff.

Our first stop is Campaign Stops, a blog about the Presidential race with entries written by my friend Steve Heller. First of all, I didn’t even know my friend Steve Heller was writing entries for a blog called Campaign Stops, so you can see firsthand what happens to your friendships when you stop writing for a real design blog. Last week he talked to Brian Collins, who notes that Change doesn’t look like Change when it’s in Comic Sans.

In this month’s Fast Company we have “The Brand Called Obama” which is interesting in what it promises right there on the cover: Here’s what it means for business. Ellen McGirt delivers a long but convincing argument comparing Obama’s strategy to the sometimes risky tack taken by smart start-ups. (If you pick it up, be sure to enjoy a relatively shorter piece on Patagonia by me.)

And finally, it wouldn’t be an Obama the Brand round up without comic relief from Pentagram’s Michael Bierut, whose radio voice I just heard pouring out of my speakers on NPR’s All Things Considered:

“I’ve jokingly said to my wife, ‘Someone who can coordinate all those fonts and make them all match perfectly, I trust them to come up with universal health care, and get us out of Iraq, and turn around the economy and do whatever else it takes,’” Bierut said.

Right? Is anyone else out there thinking what I’m thinking? Bierut 2012!

As many of you know, for the last 16 months I’ve managed to exist in Los Angeles without owning an automobile. For the most part I’ve tolerated this major inconvenience with nary a complaint. Pedaling my one-speed bike over vast expanses of steaming asphalt. Forced to stand on the train for lack of seats. Shivering alone in silence as I wait at bus stops in the pouring rain.

The unfortunate incident over the weekend was only the latest setback in a year-and-a-half battle to survive without a car in LA. Little did I know, just as I thought I was doing good, I was actually harming my fellow citizens.

My eyes were opened after reading about the negative experiences some of Curbed LA’s commenters have had with bikers on the road. Someone named ‘guest’ had a great point. “Biker bashing? sign me up. I can’t stand the ones that run stop signs.” Another person mentioned bikers “bizarrely turning left from the left turn lane, taking up whole lanes of traffic (for just one slow moving cyclist not trying to sweat too hard on the way to work).” Sounds awful.

But the most poignant comment was by ‘guest’: “Cyclists need to be taunted. Anything to give them an incentive to use a more grown-up and less self-righteous means of transportation helps.”

I can’t believe I was so selfish to never stop and consider that I could actually be ruining other people’s lives by not having a car, but it’s true. I’ve never felt so immature and self-righteous in my life! Also, it’s totally wrecking my shoes.

So this morning I went over to Toyota of Hollywood to buy a Prius. But they were all out, so I tried to get the next most fuel-efficient car, the Yaris. But I really didn’t like the color they had; I had a blue car when I was a teenager, okay? The Camry wasn’t really for me. I thought the Matrix was cool until I test-drove it and it handled like a golf cart with one flat tire. Wasn’t feeling the Corolla. The Avalon? What am I, 40? So I settled on a silver 2008 Toyota 4Runner. With the fold-down third-row bench, it can seat seven, so the way I see it, that’s six people I can keep from riding bikes every time I drive it.

I know some of you out there might be a little surprised at my decision. But deep in my heart, I know this is the right choice for my fellow commuters, and, more importantly, for myself.

Update: I feel like I have to add something to this story since so many people have emailed me (some of them congratulating me, which is bizarre), but I am pretty sure that if I ever decided to buy a car it certainly wouldn’t be an SUV purchased on April Fool’s Day.