oddly enough

oddly enough

NC candidate supports troops: Flier shows Germans

RALEIGH, N.C.

A North Carolina legislator is apologizing after a campaign flier meant to tout his support for U.S. troops featured a photo of World War II re-enactors dressed as German soldiers.

The political-consulting firm that produced the campaign piece for Democratic state Rep. Tim Spear said Wednesday it is solely responsible for the mistake.

The campaign planned to send the flier to about 10,000 homes in Spear’s coastal district. It said the legislator is “Covering Our Soldiers’ Backs.” But the photo showed the backs of four advancing re-enactors dressed in German army uniforms.

Account executive Mike Brown at Washington, D.C.-based MSHC Partners said the firm’s art department thought the photo captured Spear’s message, but no one noticed it showed the wrong kind of troops.

California congressional candidate mails stinky ad

SANTA ANA, Calif.

Something stinks in a Southern California congressional race.

It’s a scratch-and-sniff attack ad that portrays Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez as an insider politician. The ad was mailed by Republican state Assemblyman Van Tran, who is challenging Sanchez for her seat in Orange County.

Tran’s campaign manager George Andrews told the Orange County Register the mailer looks like a perfume ad and features a scratch-and-sniff patch that’s supposed to smell like trash.

The ad says: “It’s the stench of Washington.”

Sanchez’s campaign manager, Caroline Hogan, said the congresswoman has been campaigning on issues of importance to local families. And she says the mailer is a gimmick in poor taste.

Sanchez is facing the first serious challenge to her seat since she was elected in 1996.

Police: Man called cab to make robbery getaway

MISSOULA, Mont.

Police in Montana say a man robbed a bank and then called a taxi to make his getaway, tipping the driver $5 just before squad cars surrounded the cab.

Taxi driver James Anderson told the Missoulian the man was acting strangely when he picked him up at a Missoula coffee shop.

He said the man first asked to be taken to the University of Montana campus but couldn’t give Anderson a specific location. The man then asked to be taken to a hotel, but not before stopping to buy cigarettes.

The cab fare was $7.50, and Anderson said the man tipped him $5 as they arrived at the hotel. Officers then pulled up and surrounded the taxi with guns drawn.

Police allege the man earlier entered a downtown bank, told a teller he had a weapon and demanded money. No one was injured.

Charges have not yet been filed, and the man’s name wasn’t released.

Associated Press