At least 25,000 people want to know if Mitt Romney is really a unicorn .

“Mitt Romney’s DNA has never been compared with a unicorn’s,” political activist John Hlinko told the Star on Thursday by way of explanation.

“We can’t rule out the fact that he is a unicorn.”

What began as a lampoon of the “birthers,” people who believe U.S. President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, has turned into a flashpoint in highly polarized American politics.

Who are the “unicorners” who are signing the petition to investigate whether the U.S. republican presidential candidate is in fact a mythological one-horned beast?

“I think these are people who are incredibly frustrated with the sheer jackassery that is birtherism,” said Hlinko, a public relations consultant, Democratic activist and founder of the group LeftAction .

“The theory (that Obama was born in Kenya) has been debunked time and time and time again. Logic is apparently useless with these people. We thought we’d take our argument to the same illogical extreme.”

Hlinko started the petition after Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett reopened the “birther” question after he threatened to keep Obama off the ballot in response to 1,200 emails from constituents.

LeftAction wanted their own 1,200 emails to get Bennett to investigate Romney’s potential unicornism. By noon Thursday, they were closing in on 25,000.

Bennett backed down, telling Phoenix radio station KTAR, “If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn’t my intent.”

Now, however, Romney supporter Donald Trump has jumped back into the fray, forcing Romney to confront the issue this week.

“You know, I don't agree with all the people who support me, and my guess is, they don't all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney told reporters Monday. “But I need to get 50.1 per cent or more, and I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

“Mitt Romney refuses to disavow him,” said Hlinko. “It raises the question whether he has the backbone to stand up for anything. He refuses to stand up to the fringe elements of his party.”

Hlinko hopes to use the groundswell of “unicorners” to challenge “birthers” whenever they turn up in U.S. politics leading to the November election.

The Republican Party in Iowa has added a draft declaration to its platform that U.S. presidential candidates “must show proof of being a ‘natural born citizen’ beginning with the 2012 election.”

Hlinko is asking the Republican Party in Iowa to also include a declaration in its platform that candidates must prove they’re not unicorns.

“This has captured the imagination of people. It’s a release valve for a lot of frustration. I would love to see people turn up at Romney rallies wearing unicorn hats.”

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Talk show host Bill Maher tossed out his own challenge on Friday by declaring a “wifer” movement to question how many wives Romney, a practising Mormon, really has.

“Again, I’m not a wifer, I’m just saying that he has the blood of a nomadic polygamist tribesman, and I think that has shaped his worldview,” Maher said on his HBO Real Time show.

Romney has said he does not follow the Mormon practise of polygamy.

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