Sen. John Kerry is portrayed as a sweater-wearing poodle with a pink bow in an upcoming advertising campaign by the National Rifle Association, mocking his attempts to portray himself as friendly to gun sports and saying, "That dog don't hunt."
"John Kerry says he supports sportsmen's rights. But his record says something else," the ads say.
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Billboards and newspaper ads will run this week, followed by TV commercials, Chris W. Cox, the group's chief lobbyist, said Wednesday. The NRA also plans to emblazon the slogan and the poodle on mailings, hats and T-shirts.
The ad campaign, which the group says will cost several million dollars, is a play on the old saying that means something is so outrageous that it can't be true.
"We need to capture the attention of every gun owner and hunter in the country so they're not fooled by a photo op," Cox said.
Kerry, in appearances in states considered battlegrounds in the presidential race, portrays himself as friendly to hunters and other sportsmen and has gone skeet shooting and trap shooting in front of the media. He says he's been a hunter since age 12 and a gun owner who supports the Second Amendment.
However, the Massachusetts senator has voted in favor of gun control. Kerry supports requiring background checks at gun shows and supported extending the recently expired ban on assault-style weapons. He opposes granting gun makers immunity from civil lawsuits.
"It's amazing that the leadership of the NRA would attack a lifelong hunter," said Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton. "John Kerry has been hunting since he was a young boy. Anyone who tells you otherwise just isn't telling you the truth."
© 2004 Associated Press.
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