Presidential contender Mitt Romney: "I've been a hunter pretty much all my life"
The presidential contender has been hunting twice, aide confirms
Critics say it's an example of a White House aspirant willing to say anything
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- In boasting about his lifelong experience as a hunter, Mitt Romney may have shot himself in the foot.
The Republican presidential contender has told audiences on several occasions, most recently this week in gun-savvy -- and early voting -- New Hampshire, that
he has been a longtime hunter. But it turns out
he has been on only two hunting trips.
Critics said it was the latest example of a White House aspirant willing to say anything to reach the Oval Office.
"Whether he's pretending to be a hunter, misleading people about loaning his campaign millions of dollars or signing a no-new-tax pledge he once mocked to hide his tax-raising record, he'll say absolutely anything to distance himself from his real record," said Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.
The charge echoed with similarities to the criticism the Republican National Committee used to level against another Massachusetts politician running for president, Sen. John Kerry, who was his party's 2004 nominee.
In a question-and-answer session Tuesday in Keene, New Hampshire, Romney spoke of his experience with hunting in a manner that suggested a close affiliation with the sport.
"I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he told a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap.
Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience came during two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve in Georgia.
The 2006 trip was an outing with major donors to the Republican Governors Association, which Romney headed at the time.
Romney himself made several of the same points to the Keene audience, while also trying to offer some perspective on his hunting experience.
"I support the Second Amendment," he told the man who had asked about his views on the constitutional right to bear arms. "I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life. I've never really shot anything terribly big. I used to hunt rabbits."
On the Georgia excursion, he said, "I knocked quite a few birds and enjoyed myself a great deal."
Expressing familiarity with and support for gun rights is key among Republican presidential contenders, who count gun owners, members of the military and the NRA itself among their potential supporters.
It helps explain why Romney joined the NRA last August, signing up not just as a supporter but a designated "Lifetime" member, and why he has softened his gun control positions.
Romney told his Keene audience, "I'm after the NRA's endorsement. I'm not sure they'll give it to me. I hope they will. I also joined because if I'm going to ask for their endorsement, they're going to ask for mine."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/....ap/index.html
