"Not only are we strongly supporting Bush, we're mad at Kerry," he explained. "Our members feel he treated them without respect - 318,000 cops."

Turns out the FOP sent the Kerry campaign a questionnaire to sound out the candidate's views, but he ignored it.

"He's galvanized our base against him," Pasco said. "It's just stupid."

Luckily for Kerry, his FOP snub and the group's decision to back Bush drew hardly any press coverage.

"The news media intentionally or unintentionally ignored this important endorsement by our nation's law enforcement community," complained Jim Kouri, vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

When the international firefighters union endorsed John Kerry, he noted, "the news media could hardly hold back their excitement when making the announcement."

Editor's note: