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Obama Seeks To Legally Change Name

Candidate says, “If my birth name is a point of divisiveness, I want to change that, hopefully within the next 24 hours.”

By Adolf J. Schickelgruber
All-Patriot News Network
March 3, 2008

Democratic Party candidate for president Barack Obama has filed an emergency request today with the Illinois Supreme Court to legally change his name to “Barry Harry Smith.”

“My campaign is about uniting America,” Sen. Obama/Smith told reporters. “If my birth name is a point of divisiveness, I want to change that, hopefully within the next 24 hours.”

Augusto Benito Franco, a spokesman for the state court in Illinois, said this afternoon in a press conference, “Though the request is highly unusual, we will do our best to accommodate Sen. Obama. A three-judge panel should decide by tomorrow morning.”

Obama/Smith’s campaign announced that they will be running television and radio ads all day tomorrow in the Democratic primary states of Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, alerting voters to the name change, should it be approved. Election officials in those states said it is too late to alter the ballots, but they will provide polling place signs noting the new name.

When notified of Obama/Smith’s desire to change his name, Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign, said, “Barack Hussein Obama is a fine name and I would wonder why he would change it at this late date. Perhaps, in light of the fact that a Joseph Smith founded the Mormon church, we should question whether the senator has converted to that religion from Islam.”