Mitt Romney’s birth certificate controversy?

Are "birthers" after Mitt Romney?

Well, not exactly.

Mystery surrounding the former Massachusetts governor's given middle name has prompted at least one call for Romney to produce his birth certificate, columnist Joan Vennochi writes today for the Boston Globe.

Vennochi asked four years ago to see Romney's birth certificate to confirm that Romney's given name is "Willard Mitt Romney." But she was unable to obtain it. "Birth records are restricted in Michigan and only a person or parent named on the record, or a legal guardian or representative can request a copy," Vennochio writes.

Historic news accounts suggest Romney's middle name could actually be "Milton." There have been no public reports of Romney releasing his birth certificate.

And could Romney have cast additional doubt on this situation during his David Letterman appearance in February?

Number 10 on the "Top Ten Things You Don't Know About Mitt Romney" was: "Mitt is short for Mitt-thew."

Joshua Green of The Atlantic (who is also a weekly columnist for the Globe) on Thursday sarcastically compared President Obama's "birther" controversy to Romney's name mystery:

Mitt Romney still has not produced a "certificate of live birth." And we know for a fact that as a young man he spent years living in a foreign country that looks down on America. A country that is intimately familiar with colonial thinking. I trust that the more than 1,000 people who posted comments on my story about Donald Trump and his "birther investigators,' and the 100 or so who sent urgent emails, are vigilantly working to bring this Romney conspiracy to light, and I just haven't realized it.

Romney yesterday took the opportunity to distance himself from "birthers," those who believe President Obama is not a natural-born citizen.

"I think the citizenship test has been passed," the potential 2012 candidate said on CNBC's Kudlow Report. "There are real reasons to get this guy out of office ... but his citizenship isn't the reason why."

At least two potential 2012 contenders are preempting birther questioning. Donald Trump has released his birth certificate and Rep. Michele Bachmann revealed Friday that she sometimes travels with hers--just in case folks ask.

(Photo of Romney: Julie Jacobson/AP)