One day this past summer, while Marla Romash, baker, caterer and owner of Marla’s Magic and Dreamz Catering, was making her weekly delivery of cookies and other sweets to the Chevy Chase Supermarket, she stopped by to have her usual political argument with market owners Kevin and Jason Kirsch.
In the midst of the friendly debate, Romash, a former newspaper and TV reporter, political campaigner and Al Gore’s press secretary, said the two asked her why she hadn’t done anything to blend her baking and politics.
It got her thinking and strategizing, and the result is The Political Cookie Company, launched earlier this month. The bipartisan baked goods are decorated with Democratic, Republican or Independent messages or candidates’ faces, and Romash will also design custom cookies and those reflecting breaking news.
“One of my friends called them ‘rapid response cookies,’ ” says Romash, who lives in Silver Spring. “After way too many years of doing rapid response media, cookies are way more fun.”
After Rick Perry forgot the name of the third agency he’d abolish as president, Romash came up with a cookie depicting Perry with a hat.
“Could have saved him energy, prevented brain freeze,” she wrote in the e-mail accompanying the cookie come-on. Herman Cain cookies show him smiling with a big “99999” across his mouth.
Romash says she’s already gotten a terrific response from her e-mail blasts and she’s getting online orders from political professionals and private companies, who are ordering the cookies as fun gifts for the holidays. She expects to be busy next year, too, as the primary season heats up.
Not surprisingly, with her background in media and campaigning, Romash is never short on cute quips or marketing moxie. Says one e-mail: “Got an opinion? Get a cookie. Tell people what you think, then let them eat your words.”
For ordering or more information, go to www.thepoliticalcookiecompany.com
