PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN Kerry plans hunting trip to Columbiana County

This would be the presidential candidate's fifth trip to the Valley.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, will go hunting Thursday in the Mahoning Valley, a week after National Rifle Association officials came to the area to endorse President Bush.
But Brendon Cull, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Coordinated Campaign, said the NRA endorsement has nothing to do with Kerry's hunting plans.
"It's a sport that John Kerry likes to take part in," Cull said. "He's a sportsman and a hunter. It's something he likes to do."
Cull said details of the event are in the planning stages. But local Democratic officials say Kerry will go duck hunting Thursday morning on the Center Township farm of football great Larry Csonka.
Csonka has lived in Columbiana County for more than two decades. The only political contribution Csonka has made in the past four years was $250 in 2002 to Michael Halleck of Salem, a Republican who lost the 6th Congressional District race that year to U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Lisbon Democrat.
NRA criticism
During a press conference last week in Howland, NRA officials said if Kerry is elected president, he would work to take away the rights of gun owners.
Kerry has been an avid hunter and sportsman since he was a child, and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, Cull said.
On Saturday, Kerry bought an Ohio hunting license in Pike County, and told reporters at the time that he planned to go hunting in the key battleground state, Cull said.
This would be Kerry's fifth stop in the Mahoning Valley. President Bush's last visit to Ohio was Oct. 2, although Vice President Dick Cheney and the president's surrogates continue to campaign in the state. Bush visited the Valley once this year, holding an invitation-only event at Youngstown State University in May to discuss community health care programs.
Most polls in Ohio have the presidential race as a statistical dead-heat.
Previous visit
Kerry last visited the Valley on Oct. 3, holding a town-hall event at Austintown Fitch High School. After the visit, he told The Vindicator that he planned to hold a large rally in the area before the election.
Nothing has been finalized as far as a Kerry rally in the Valley, Cull said. But the schedule for the last nine days of the campaign has not yet been finalized, he said.
Many political experts say Kerry needs a win in Ohio to capture the presidency. Also, they said, Kerry needs strong voter turnout and at least 65 percent of the vote in Mahoning and Trumbull, two of the state's most Democratic counties, to win Ohio.