Candidate changes name to Thomas Jefferson

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Jack Talbert is--sorry, was--a Libertarian running for Congress in Kansas's 4th District.

"Essentially, when you're running against Mike Pompeo, you're drawing straws to see who's going to lose to him," said the man formerly known as Talbert, referring to his popular incumbent opponent.

But win or lose, the Libertarian candidate for the Wichita seat is no longer called Jack Talbert, since he legally changed his name to Thomas Jefferson.

"When people see that Thomas Jefferson's on the ballot, half will think I'm committed to the Libertarian Party, and the other half will probably think I should be committed," Jefferson told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "But whether you think it's crazy or not, hopefully it gets people thinking about the founding fathers and Thomas Jefferson in particular and whether we have that form of government still."

Jefferson said he hopes his candidacy will raise the profile of his "Thomas Jefferson Project," aimed at limiting the powers of the Federal Reserve and returning to the gold standard.

Jefferson told the Capital-Journal that his wife, the Libertarian candidate for the Kansas House in 87th district, didn't seem to mind the name change.

“She said ‘Whenever I want to rebuke you, I will call you Thomas,’ ” Jefferson said. “It's like she uses it if I do something stupid, like, ‘C'mon, Thomas, use your brain.’ Around the house, though, she usually still calls me things you can’t print in the newspaper and Jack.”