Kerry's goose-hunting trip is for the birds

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say John Kerry's goose hunting trip to the Mahoning Valley was a comedy of errors.
It was as if a group of high school kids working to get their buddy elected student body president organized and handled the event. Actually, that's being a bit cruel -- to the high school kids.
The premise of the event was to show that Kerry is a "regular Joe," and not a wealthy guy running for president. So his advisers came up with the idea to have him hunt somewhere in the Mahoning Valley; the same area where the National Rifle Association chose to announce its endorsement of President Bush last week.
This one had disaster written all over it from the beginning. The Democratic presidential nominee says he's a hunter and a sportsman; the NRA says he is neither.
The problem was the goose hunting outing came off as it truly was: a completely staged event, even if the implementation was poor. If Kerry wants to go hunting, he shouldn't publicize it. If he wanted to do it to get away from the campaign and relax a bit, his staff shouldn't have invited the national press corps to Thursday's event.
The reality is Kerry's campaign is trying to convince Democrats who own guns and/or are hunters that it's all right to vote for him.
While the idea may have some sound reasoning -- and I'm not sure it does -- the implementation was a disaster.
Among the gigantic problems was the disclosure of the hunt location. The Kerry campaign wouldn't disclose it until reporters showed up at the Holiday Inn in Boardman at 5:45 a.m.
The campaign denied keeping the location a secret, and said I was reading too much into the lack of a disclosed location. I repeatedly asked about the location, and wasn't told about it until I showed up at a different location to be taken to the location in question. To me that's keeping the location a secret.
I was pleasantly surprised they didn't blindfold the reporters on the caravan journey to the Molnar farm in Springfield Township. I was tipped off the day before that the event would be at this location, but a person at the farm who answered the phone Wednesday denied the event was there.
I was told by Kerry campaign staffers that myself and a few local TV and radio reporters would be in a duck blind a distance away from Kerry and the three others hunting. "Wear hunting clothes," I was told.
Well, imagine what I thought when I got to the Holiday Inn and found numerous reporters and photographers there. I was even more surprised when we got to the farm and the national media arrived. So much for keeping this event intimate. It also meant that I was stuck hanging around the Molnar's home for over two hours waiting, and sweating because I'm wearing heavy boots, thermal underwear, jeans, two shirts, thermal socks, and a winter coat. The Molnars are very nice people, and I enjoyed the hospitality, but had I known I'd be doing so little, I would have stayed in bed.
I, along with other reporters, occasionally went outside to see what was going on. We kept getting shooed back inside as to "not disturb the geese."
With regards to getting accurate information, there were several problems.
I was told a very lengthy story about Kerry using a Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag 12-gauge pump action, woodlands camo finish shotgun he received from a Pike County politician last week. After overhearing a national Kerry press official talking about the gun the candidate was using, I realized Kerry wasn't using a Mossberg. It turns out Kerry used a Beretta 12-gauge shotgun given to him by one of the three guys who hunted with him.
Then the local media was told the name of the yellow lab with the hunters is Joe. About an hour later, we were told the dog's name is Woody, and then later that Woody is the dog's nickname. His full name is Woodstock. How they got Joe from Woody or Woodstock is beyond me.
Kerry committed a serious error in judgment during the brief moment he gave the press after the event. Kerry and the three other hunters walked out of the field, all carrying dead Canada geese, except the presidential nominee.
As Kerry walked by the press, he said each of the four killed one goose. He was asked why he didn't carry his, and had someone else carry it. "Because it was too heavy and I was too lazy."
Obviously the statement was meant as a joke. But if the idea was to attract Democratic hunters to the campaign, the joke is on Kerry.