BOARDMAN, Ohio (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry went on a politically targeted hunt Thursday, looking for waterfowl and voters who might harbor doubts about him.þþWearing a camouflage jacket and carrying a 12-gauge shotgun, Kerry left on a hunt for ducks and geese just before 7 a.m. EDT on a supporter's farm outside of Youngstown. Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said it's important in the final days of the campaign that voters ``get a better sense of John Kerry, the guy.''þþThat means the Democratic senator plans to spend some of the time before Election Day hunting, watching baseball and talking about his faith.þþIt's all part of an effort to win over swing voters who may be open to voting against President Bush but aren't sure they feel any connection with Kerry.þþThe Massachusetts senator watched his beloved Boston Red Sox win the American League championship Wednesday night after arriving at his hotel room in Boardman, Ohio. ``They're the greatest comeback team there is,'' Kerry told journalists invited in briefly. He declined to say if there were any metaphors for his campaign.þþWhile the Democrat campaigns as an all-American, his political opponents are working to leave voters with a different impression. Bush tells voters that Kerry is on the ``left bank'' of society, opposing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Kerry does not support gay marriage but says the matter is for states to decide, and he favors civil unions for same-sex couples.þþ``We stand for marriage and family, which are the foundations of our society,'' Bush said Wednesday in Mason City, Iowa. ``We stand for the Second Amendment, which protects every individual American's right to bear arms.''þþThe National Rifle Association said it bought a full-page ad in Thursday's Youngstown newspaper that says Kerry is posing as a sportsman while opposing gun-owners' rights. Kerry has denied NRA claims that he wants to ``take away'' guns, but he supported the ban on assault-type weapons and requiring background checks at gun showsþþ``If John Kerry thinks the Second Amendment is about photo ops, he's Daffy,'' says the ad the NRA said would run in The Vindicator. It features a large photo of Kerry with his finger on a shotgun trigger but looking in another direction.þþMeanwhile, labor unions have been circulating fliers among workers that say Kerry won't take away guns. ``He likes his own gun too much,'' says one of the fliers from the Building Trades Department of the AFL-CIO that features a picture of Kerry aiming a shotgun.þþThe last time Kerry went hunting was October 2003 in Iowa, a state where he was trailing in the Democratic primary but came from behind to win.þþHunting is of particular interest in several of the states that are still up for grabs in the presidential race. Kerry bought his hunting license last Saturday in one of the most critical -- Ohio, which has 20 electoral votes.þþKerry bought the nonresident license and a special wetlands habitat stamp, which lets him hunt waterfowl.þþKerry plans to deliver a new speech on faith this weekend in Florida, McCurry said, focusing on an explanation of his values.þþ``The fact that Senator Kerry is a person of faith is something that might help voters who are undecided,'' McCurry said.þþKerry has been explaining it more in recent weeks as he campaigns in socially conservative areas like rural Ohio. At a town hall meeting Saturday in Xenia, he talked about taking his rosary into battle during the Vietnam War. ``I will bring my faith with me to the White House and it will guide me,'' Kerry said.þþThe faith, the baseball, the hunting all come at the end of a long fight against Kerry's liberal elite image -- an image promoted by his political enemies but perhaps aided by Kerry as well. The candidate disregarded concerns from other Democrats that he shouldn't go windsurfing or vacation at his homes on Nantucket and in Idaho's ski country.þþMcCurry said Kerry is simply doing the things he loves in the final days of the campaign. Asked if it will include windsurfing, McCurry smiled. ``It's too cold this time of year,'' he said.þþ
Source: NY Times
