Summary: Need help with PR? If you are looking for a great PR firm, you've found one. Walker Sands is a leading Chicago PR firm with a strong track record that makes it one of top national PR agencies..

A Largo man is making big business of Spice Mice. Two, who resemble certain candidates, will even debate the issues of the day outside the GOP convention.
(article continues below useful links)

LARGO - Hairy Kerry is 3 feet tall.

He wears a sharp black suit and holds an American flag in his left hand.

"It is time for a new mouse ... in the White House," he squeaks. "And I support this message."

George W. Bushy-Tail, however, still thinks he is the big cheese. He tips his cowboy hat back and retorts: "I'm from Texas, where even the mice are big. I am the right mouse for the White House."

The two mice are high-tailing it to New York next week for the Republican National Convention. They will debate outside the convention center about who is the best rodent for the job.

"We're going to have them strapped to us," said Jay Kamhi, 43, the creator of the talking mice. "We have a loudspeaker planted in them. We even have a guy moderating the debate."

Kamhi, president of Kamhi World on Ulmerton Road, has been making talking mice for about a year. He calls them Spice Mice. The rodents became so popular that stores such as Walgreens, Linens 'n Things and Advance Auto Parts placed orders. Now the critters are found in each chain's aisles nationwide.

He has 18 characters in all.

There's the Notorious Grilled Cheese. Heavy M. Miguel Raton, a Mexican mouse.

He even has one from the Red Hat Society that sings I Want to Be Loved By You by Marilyn Monroe.

Oh and folks, these are all clean jokes.

"I got a penalty for shaking my tail in the end zone," one football playing mouse says.

All the mice are handmade in China and retail for $5.99. The average one is 4 inches tall, but Kamhi makes some larger ones. Each has an attached key chain.

"Initially, I made them for adults to give them something they would think is funny," Kamhi said. "I started to make mice that kids would like as well. They hang them on their car, on their buckles. People put them on their desks."

Kamhi has always had a fascination for famous mice. Mice with personality.

Mickey. Mighty. Jerry.

His first talking mouse debuted at a trade show in August 2003. It was a Big City mouse that belted out New York, New York, after being pressed on the belly.

"Mice are not too disgusting," said Kamhi. "There's a cuteness about them. It was funny to me. I figured I might as well make something that made me laugh."

Kamhi has always had a knack for selling quirky items. He worked as a street vendor for 20 years in New York, where he sold creepy crawlers, moving hands and Beanie Babies.

When he moved to Largo in 2001, he began selling Beanie Babies out of a warehouse on Ulmerton Road. He also made magnetic flags and California Total Recall playing cards. Then he settled on mice. It is now his only product.

So far he has sold just over 600,000, with orders still coming in. He makes about 5 percent profit, or about 30 cents, for each mouse sold.

"My goal was to make people feel better, to make them laugh, make them smile," he said. "We figured if we could make them feel good, that would lead to us making money."

Spice Mice, a play on the music group the Spice Girls, are doing well, said Carol Hively, spokeswoman for Walgreens. They are sold in more than 4,000 stores nationwide.

"We have plans to continue selling them," she said. "In general, we don't want the competition to know, but I can tell you they are doing well."

Bart Dobin, vice president of Kamhi World, said he knew that the mice would be a success. He and Kamhi have known each other for more than 25 years.

"Jay comes up with these very creative things," he said. "When he told me about the mice, I felt enthused. I know Mickey Mouse was big; Mighty Mouse was popular. I thought this had a good chance."

Kamhi says he is not making much cheese from his invention. He has to pay the writers who come up with the lines, the impersonators who record the words and his workers.

"I'm making some money," he said. "But it goes back into the mice."

So what's next for Kamhi?

- Harry Hotcheese (a firefighter).

- Dale Cheesecart (race car driver).

- And Johnny Tailback (football mouse).

"I'd like to do a Bill O'Reilly mouse," he said. "The no-cat zone."

Copyright © 2004. St. Petersburg Times.