Barrington had annual sales of about $5 million and was profitable last year. But sales have taken a hit. Corporate gift-giving is down, and two of its biggest customers, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, no longer exist. A third big customer, Merrill Lynch & Co., is now part of Bank of America Corp.

“However, we’ve always weathered past recessions,” Gowdey says. “When times get tough, people would rather give quality rather than something that gets tossed away and ends up in a landfill.”

Barrington hopes to capitalize on this serendipity – in a strictly legal way.

It can’t rename the bag the “Obama” and was worried that the “Air Force One” might push the ethical envelope. But “Presidential Carry-on” is fair game and still gets the point across.

It sells for $350 wholesale, while a faux-leather version costs $75. Retailers typically double those prices.

Barrington’s clientele includes Microsoft Corp., PGA Tour, Aflac Inc., Compass Bank, Perot Systems Corp., American Airlines Center and Coca-Cola Co. It also sells to about 400 retailers.

Gloria Kellum, vice chancellor at Ole Miss, helped pick out the captain’s bag made of top-grade English saddle leather that was given to John McCain, Barack Obama and debate moderator Jim Lehrer. It’s the most expensive product Barrington’s ever made.

“We wanted something very special for when they were on the Ole Miss campus,” she says.

Last week, several alums e-mailed her the Time White House photo blog.

“When we saw it, we went, ‘Oh, wow! Isn’t that great?’ ” Kellum says.

Given the importance of the auto industry to Michigan, the restructuring inevitably will bleed over into a broader cultural shift in how Michiganders see themselves and their economic life, said Doug Rothwell, president of the corporate leadership group Detroit Renaissance.”The culture is the thing we’ve got to deal with the most, and that’s the toughest to deal with,” Rothwell said. He cited attitudes toward education, race and geographic boundaries among things that influence Michigan’s economic outlook — “all the stuff that’s tied us up in knots for years.”

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