A mailer from Salt Lake County Mayoral candidate Ben McAdams claims an endorsement from one of Utah's most famous fictional political characters.

The mailer to county delegates highlights endorsements from a number of individuals, including Rep. Jim Matheson. However, one name jumps off the cardstock - Richard Burwash.

If you'll remember, Burwash was the creation of Republican Salt Lake County Mayoral candidate Mike Winder. Winder used the Burwash pen name to write positive news articles about West Valley City for news outlets including the Deseret News and KSL.com.

Here's the mailer -

The whole thing is generating good natured chuckles from McAdams, Winder and others in the race.

McAdams says "I am honored to have support from a broad spectrum of people who are Democrats and Republicans, both real and imaginary."

McAdams' Democratic opponent, Ross Romero says they did notice the endorsement from Burwash. "If Ben gets the endorsement from any other fictional characters, I don't think it will matter too much."

Even Winder thinks the jab from McAdams is all in fun. "I'm glad to see the Dems have a sense of humor, but it is preposterous to think that Richard Burwash would endorse my opponent. That would be like Silence Dogood endorsing Benjamin Franklin's opponent, or Mark Twain rising up against Samuel Clemens!"

But, it does raise the question whether this kind of tomfoolery belongs in a political race. McAdams says the idea to include Burwash on the mailer came from his campaign manager, but he doesn't see any sort of problem with it.

"Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously in the public square. The public's business is very serious, but we need to be able to make light of things once in a while."