Few people would argue that the doll industry is a shadow of its former self—that its heyday of the ’80s and ’90s is long past. As a relative newcomer to the doll industry, I wasn’t around in those days. But have I heard stories. So many long-time doll industry people remember packed-out shows with collectors rushing to get through the doors to buy up dolls. And they remember doll magazines being as thick as Cosmopolitan, and the high demand for collectible dolls driving up doll prices.

What do Rush Limbaugh, Rainn Wilson (“Dwight” from “The Office”), and Drew Carey all have in common? Hint: It has nothing to do with their appearances, their professions or their ethnicity. Give up? All three are big fans of the TV program “Mad Men,” and they are eagerly collecting the Mattel versions of the advertising characters.

Politics makes strange bedfellows and none stranger than the former U.S. military man and the make-believe Hasbro doll that he chats about. What I’m referencing is the unusual campaign that happened recently in South Carolina, where a total unknown named Alvin Greene