• The Wall Street Journal, Monday, March 24, 2008 11:16 AM

Marketing executives say the breadth of products and services that are trying to piggyback on the 2008 presidential election is much greater than ever before, and Madison Avenue has gotten started much earlier in response to the unusually high drama of the early days of the campaign.

A new ad campaign by XM Satellite Radio Holdings revolves around a mock election for the president of XM Baseball--New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter or Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. A current TV ad for Pizza Hut cobbles together clips from recent primary debates that show presidential hopefuls addressing the U.S. economy. In a TV spot for Swiffer, a newfangled mop from Procter & Gamble goes up against a sponge mop in a faux debate. And an Absolut ad shows a man who looks like a candidate standing at a podium during a news conference with a Pinocchio-like nose.

The public's interest level in this election has been higher than for any presidential contest in recent decades, according to pollsters. A recent online poll of 1,174 registered voters by Publicis's MediaVest found that 73% of voters are reading or watching coverage of the election at least a few times a week.

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