Etc...

See, I offer folks a choice

If it's OK for the governor of Florida to be known as Jeb Bush when his given name is John, or the governor of Massachusetts to be called Mitt Romney (his parents named him Willard), or Georgia's governor to go by Sonny Perdue, when his proper name is George, a candidate for the top office in Tennessee thinks he, too, ought to be identified on the Nov. 7 ballot in the way he wants. Alas, David Getchell couldn't persuade the State Election Commission of that. So he has taken his case to court. No, he isn't lobbying to be listed by the diminutive "Dave," in the fashion of many other politicians. Earlier this year, he legally changed his middle name from Leroy to – ready for this? – None of the Above , and that's the option he wishes voters to have. As an independent candidate in the 2002 gubernatorial election, he won 6 percent of the vote. He argues that his change attracted so much attention in the news media that he's even more widely recognized now. The commission disagrees, and state law allows it to omit some of a candidate's name on the ballot. So he may lose the court case , too. But his political hopes aren't just riding on the race for governor. He's also running for a US Senate seat.

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