Kerry hunts for birds, votes

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Sen. John Kerry bought camouflage coveralls, picked up a shotgun and went hunting for votes Thursday in a cornfield.

At his side was a yellow Labrador named Woody, which was apt, since Kerry needs all the “yellow dogs” – a term for conservative Democrats – he can get.

He and his four-man hunting party crouched in a blind on a supporters’ farm near Youngstown, bagging four geese and, more importantly, news coverage featuring images of him clad head-to-toe in hunting gear, gun cradled over an arm, looking tough, manly and outdoorsy.

It was enough to give the National Rifle Association fits.

“John Kerry went hunting today to decoy voters into thinking he’s something he’s not,” said NRA executive director Wayne LaPierre, who showed up to question the senator’s gun-lover claims. “His presidency is the nightmare scenario for gun owners.”

Although few voters were in sight, this was hardly down time for Kerry. His strategists viewed it as a chance to woo rural voters and gun owners. However, the NRA is trying to undermine that effort with a $20 million anti-Kerry ad, phone and mail blitz in Ohio and 14 other states.

Gun advocates and the Bush team accused Kerry of taking aim at the Second Amendment. Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt called the hunt “pure photo opportunism” for a man whose support for a ban on assault weapons, limits on gun shows and other measures earned him an F grade from the NRA.

Republicans wouldn’t even give him credit for pumping money into eastern Ohio’s economy. Vice President Dick Cheney, stumping in Sylvania, Ohio, taunted the fresh purchase of the overalls, saying it emphasized that Kerry isn’t a regular goose hunter.

“His new camo jacket is an October disguise, an effort he’s making to hide the fact that he votes against gun owner rights at every turn,” said Cheney, whose own hunt with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in December drew an outcry because the vice president killed more than 70 pheasants released from cages.

Bush even adapted his standard refrain about Kerry and his record, saying in Hershey, Pa., “He can run, he can even hide in camo, but he cannot hide.”

Kerry bought his Ohio hunting license last Saturday, paying extra for a wetlands habitat stamp to let him hunt waterfowl. With 20 electoral votes at stake, he’d already been back once before the hunt.

Kerry said little himself about the hunt, preferring to let pictures speak his thousand words. He gave the thumbs up when returning from the blind, his left hand bloodied from picking up a downed bird. Asked if he’d hit one, he replied, “Everybody got one.”