Mike Brown Vs. Mike Brown

The Old Lake County Courthouse in Crown Point, IN. (Photo: Joey Lax-Salinas)

Thanks to @PE_Mulroe via Twitter, here’s a story from the (Northwest Indiana) Post-Tribune that combines two of our favorite topics: elections and first names. It’s called “A Tale of Two Mike Browns in Lake County Politics”:

Did Mike Brown, the candidate for recorder, intentionally run on the name recognition earned by former recorder and Lake County Clerk Mike Brown?

The candidate says no. Incumbent Recorder Michelle Fajman and party boss Tom McDermott Jr. say yes. And the clerk with the same name? Well, as someone who backed Fajman in the election, he’s just sorry if anyone cast a ballot without knowing who was who.

Democratic candidate Brown’s unofficial 457-vote primary win over Fajman — the vice chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee — has many saying he played the “name game” to deceive voters, and she’s first in line.

“This person won on the name game,” Fajman said. “Now the voters will have to live with this for the next four years.

Is there another Barack Obama or Mitt Romney out there who might want to hurry up and get on a Presidential ticket?