Name recognition

He outraised her five to one, ran attack ads. But all the money in the world couldn't buy a name like Brant.

Laura Lippman, Wilde Lake

Names matter in elections. Who among us hasn't gone into a voting booth and discovered races where neither candidate is familiar. In nonpartisan races, we can't even depend on a political party listing for guidance. What do we do" Chances are we pick a candidate to vote for the way we may pick a horse to bet on in the Kentucky Derby, if that's the only day we ever have an interest in horse racing: We go with a name we like. And some names are better than others.

In Laura Lippman's novel Wilde Lake, reviewed here a few days ago, Luisa F. Brant is running for state attorney (called district attorney or county prosecutor in other areas) against the incumbent. Despite the other candidate's apparent advantages, she wins easily because of her name. Her father was state attorney in that Maryland county for a long time. Voters are used to seeing a Brant on the ballot.

And so it goes. When in doubt, voters tend to go with familiar names. Perhaps this helps explain why the United States has had two presidents named Adams, two named Roosevelt and two named Bush. There easily could have been two named Taft or two named Kennedy or two named Clinton. There might even have been a third Bush.

In state and local elections, names can be even more important on election day. These contests are more likely to be obscure, getting little press coverage and fewer yard signs or TV ads. I always seem to be surprised to find races for district judge or township trustee on the ballot. I never seem to hear about these races before the election. So what do I do? Just like everybody else, I choose a name that's familiar or, failing that, pleasing to say.

I recall an instance when a county recorder in Ohio had a long career in which re-election every four years was automatic. Usually he didn't even have opposition. When he retired, his son took his place on the ballot and was elected handily. The only problem was that the son was clueless, having an IQ that must have barely registered on the scale. Thankfully his father had put together an efficient staff that ran the office smoothly. The new recorder had little to do, and the less he did the better. But eventually he attended one too many candidates' nights and, perhaps more importantly, he proved unable to cope with the need to bring his office into the computer age, and he was voted out of office.

Thaksin Shinawatra

Two months ago the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article about how political candidates in Thailand have been changing their names to Thaksin to take advantage of that name. Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister ousted by a military coup in 2006, remains popular in that country. And so there were Thaksins running for parliament in at least four provinces, and other Thaksins running for other offices throughout Thailand.

Maybe you can't buy a name like Brant in the Maryland county of Laura Lippman's novel, but the name Thaksin has become cheap in Thailand.