Kerry on wild goose chase for votes

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said he bagged a goose on a hunting trip in Ohio today, but his real target was the voters who may harbour doubts about him.

Kerry returned after a two-hour hunting trip wearing a camouflage jacket and carrying a 12-gauge shotgun, but someone else carried the bird he said he shot.

“I’m too lazy,” Kerry joked. “I’m still giddy over the Red Sox. It was hard to focus.”

The Massachusetts senator was referring to Boston’s amazing baseball comeback against New York Yankees on Wednesday night.

He stayed up late cheering his hometown team to victory, then got up for a 7am hunting trip at a supporter’s farm in Youngstown.

The National Rifle Association, which backs President Bush, took a full-page advert in the local paper claiming that 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 shows

“If John Kerry thinks the Second Amendment is about photo ops, he’s Daffy,” said the advert. It featured a large photo of Kerry with his finger on a shotgun trigger but looking in another direction.

Kerry’s aides said he spent about two hours hunting at a blind set up in a cornfield. More than two dozen journalists were invited to the farm outside to see Kerry emerge from the field, but none witnessed him taking any shots.

Each of his companions carried a dead goose on the way back, while Kerry walked beside them with his 12-gauge in one hand and the other free to pet a yellow Labrador named Woody.

The 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.

Hunting is of particular interest in several of the states that are still up for grabs in the presidential race.