St. Petersburg Democratic club ad says 'pull trigger' on Rumsfeld

The ad by the St. Petersburg Democratic Club in a weekly paper in nearby Gulfport criticized the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war before singling out Rumsfeld. "And then there's Rumsfeld who said of Iraq 'We have our good days and our bad days.' We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say 'This is one of our bad days,' and pull the trigger," the full-page ad said. The ad continued: "Do you want to salvage our country? Be a savior of our country? Then vote for John Kerry and get rid of the whole Bush Bunch!" The Kerry campaign said it had nothing to do with the ad, called it "outrageous" and advised the local club to retract the ad and apologize. State Republican Party chairman Carole Jean Jordan said the ad was "deplorable." "I am shocked beyond words at what amounts to a call for the assassination of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by the St. Petersburg Democratic Club," she said in a statement. A Defense Department spokesman declined comment. The ad listed phone numbers for the club's president and vice president. Both lines were busy during repeated attempts by The Associated Press to reach them for comment. Mark Kornblau, a Kerry campaign spokesman, said the club was not working for the campaign and called for an apology. "It is outrageous and does not in any way reflect the position of our campaign. We hope that those responsible will retract the statement," Kornblau said. Ken Reichart, editor and publisher of the weekly Gabber, said he considered not running the ad but did so because he felt the reference to Rumsfeld was a "figure of speech."