CLEVELAND _ Once upon a time, there were a bunch of buttons being sold on the streets outside the Republican National Convention, and this would not normally be news, except my mother would disown me if I ever bought some of them.
Euclid Avenue outside the Quicken Loans Arena has the feel of a souk, where protesters bark like street prophets (and are mostly ignored, just like street prophets) and street vendors peddle Trump hats, Trump shirts, Trump magnets, Trump buttons.
And Hillary Clinton buttons.
LIFE'S A BITCH. DON'T VOTE FOR ONE.
VOTE NO TO MONICA'S EX-BOYFRIEND'S WIFE IN 2016.
KFC HILLARY SPECIAL: 2 FAT THIGHS, 2 SMALL BREASTS ... LEFT WING.
I've seen them displayed at the eye level of a child by several street vendors, who are overwhelmingly male.
Except for Shy Drayton.
"Oh my gosh _ jeez," Drayton said as I showed her photos I'd taken of other vendors' Clinton buttons. "I think that's very rude."
Drayton had a stand of merchandise set up in the shade of the House of Blues, where she was selling buttons (one for $3, four for $10) and shirts ($15 to $20).
"This is how I make my everyday living," said Drayton as she folded a HILLARY FOR PRISON 2016 T-shirt. "I'm not too much into politics."
Drayton, who is from Indiana, has been hawking whatever sells at public events since she was 14, starting with Obama's election "back in the day." Most recently, she has been peddling gear in Georgia, North Carolina, Iowa, Alabama and now Ohio.
"I've been to 42 states already, and I'm only 21," Drayton says proudly. "I meet people from all over the world."
Her personal philosophy: The president matters less than your personal motivations. "If you want to be rich, you can be rich," Drayton says. "You got to figure out how to do it."
Everybody at the convention has been nice to her, Drayton says. Her perch on Euclid Avenue has given her a front-row seat at the circus.
Recently, she watched as a group of armed men _ calling themselves defenders of the Second Amendment _ marched down the road with rifles, a brigade of police bringing up the rear.
But nothing much happened. Drayton turned away and kept selling her merch.
