Senate

Kentucky Election Day Dispatch: Awesome Nicknames

By Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | May 18, 2010 | +

As you probably know, Trey Grayson is running for Senate in Kentucky. What you might not know is that “Trey” isn’t actually his name. It’s just a handle given to the third in a line of Charles Merwin Graysons. Far from frowning on pseudonymous politicians, the Bluegrass State allows candidates to designate a nickname to run on the official ballot.

Our colleague Feifei Sun points me in the direction of the down-ballot candidate rolls and the fabulous treasure trove of monikers therein. The nicknames run the gamut from zoological — Dale “Frog” Ford for sheriff, Steve “Farm Dog” Farmer for magistrate, William “Turkey” Thomason for mayor and Shawn “Squid” Rye for county commissioner — to culinary — Jerry “Peanuts” Gaines for sheriff, TP “Puddin” Scott for magistrate, Eddie “Popcorn” Brown for constable and Jeff “Buttermilk” Mountjoy for jailer — and the outright bizarre — John “Hermanator” Kirk for sheriff, Ancel “Hard Rock” Smith for assemblyman and, perhaps tragically, Mike “Need Kidney” Sittason for surveyor.

All of this and more is available on the web site of Kentucky Secretary of State Charles, er, Trey Grayson. Or just check out some more after the jump:

Property Value Administrator

Michael “Dip” Stafford
Troy “Tuna” Cracraft

Sheriff

Gary “Hammer” Jackson
Dale “Frog” Ford
Wayne “Tiny” Wright
Shelby “Poncho” Mize
Darrell “Smokey” Wood
Charles “Fuzzy” Keesee
Kenny “Gravedigger” Perry
Shawn “Stumpy” Stump
John “Tuffy” Snedegar
Milford “Litle” Creekmore
Chris “Topper” Grant
Kevin “Mooch” McDavid
John “Shorty” Whisman
Timothy “Sparky” Cash

State Rep.

John “Bam” Carney
Ralph E. “Kojak” Mullins

District judge

William “Bo” Leach
W. “Skip” Hammons

Magistrate/Justice of the Peace

Michael “35″ Bolen
Clarence “Monk” Lambdin
Gary “Rooster” Risner
Dwain “Dude” West

Mayor

Everett “Mammaw” Gulley
F.T. “Butch” Seargent

Constable

Greg “Boner” Barnett

Jailer

Kenneth “Goat” Rice
Eugene “Friday” Roberts
Palmer “Jaybird” Crouch
Eddie “Hack” Marcum

Related Topics: kentucky, 2012 Election, Miscellany, Senate

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    What do they call McConnell who thrives on being “con or against” everything — I guess we could call him McCON -

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    CNN just projected Rand Paul as the winner in the Kentucky primary.

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    I was just watching some returns from the Kentucky primary. I’ve been hearing (almost constantly) how much more the republicans are enthusiastic about voting than the democrats. There’s about 60% of the vote in and 193,000 republicans voted and over 270,000 democrats voted in their primary. The guy losing the democratic primary has almost as many votes as the winner of the republican primary (Rand Paul).

  • Oli Reyes

    It’s worse in the Philippines, where candidates are practically encouraged to adopt a nickname which will then be printed on the ballot. One incumbent senator, actor Ramon Revilla Jr. (nickname: “Bong”), went as far as to legally change his surname to “Bong Revilla” so he could be alphabetically listed first on the ballot.

    http://www.gmanews.tv/story/184067/revilla-jrs-surname-is-now-bong-revilla

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