With burgers as ballots, a restaurant in the US capital is conducting its own gourmet straw poll in the run-up to national elections on November 6. BLT Steak, a stone’s throw from the White House, is giving patrons a choice of hamburgers named after President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan.Voting ends October 2, just over a month before polling day. The Obama burger is the most expensive at $28 because “he’s the president” and deserves the best, manager Adam Sanders — whose establishment counts the first family among its patrons. It combines eight ounces (225 grams) of American-produced Kobe style beef with a roasted pineapple, in what Sanders called a homage to Obama’s Hawaiian roots. The Romney burger features a similar-sized patty with a “Utah style pastrami stack” — Utah is the home state of the Mormon faith, to which the former Massachusetts governor adheres — and Swiss cheese. It costs $23. Another diner, Tim Tagaris, opted for a Biden burger “because Swiss cheese has no business on a cheeseburger” in the United States, while Jessica Morale said: “I’ll never order a Romney burger — it’s against my morals.”