think you missed part of that press release:
Misleading Calls Made to Michigan Voters
Monday November 1, 2004 11:01 PM
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
Associated Press Writer
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Some Michigan voters have received phone calls falsely claiming that Sen. John Kerry would make gay marriage legal. In New Jersey, some voters have heard a man claiming to be former Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf backing the Democrat.
Republicans and Democrats were furious Monday about the blatantly false, 11th-hour political calls to voters and demanded an end to the messages.
Schwarzkopf has endorsed Bush, but in a recording of a phone call played for The Associated Press, a man identifying himself as the Persian Gulf War general says, ``In 2000, I voted for George W. Bush, but this year I'm voting for John Kerry. ... John Kerry has a real plan to make our military stronger and to go after terrorists wherever they hide. We need a vote for change, vote for John Kerry.''
A voice says the message was paid for by the Democratic National Committee.
In a statement from the Bush campaign, Schwarzkopf said the DNC was making fraudulent phone calls claiming that he had endorsed Kerry, and ``nothing could be further from the truth, and I demand that they stop immediately.
The DNC had no immediate reaction.
In Michigan, in a recording of a call played for the AP, a young woman says: ``When you vote this Tuesday remember to legalize gay marriage by supporting John Kerry. We need John Kerry in order to make gay marriage legal for our city. Gay marriage is a right we all want. It's a basic Democrat principle. It's time to move forward and be progressive. Without John Kerry, George Bush will stop gay marriage. That's why we need Kerry. So Tuesday, stand up for gay marriage by supporting John Kerry.''
Both Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, oppose gay marriage and say marriage should be limited to a man and a woman. Kerry has said he supports civil unions.
The calls began Sunday afternoon, according to Rodell Mollineau, spokesman for Kerry's Michigan campaign. The campaign said voters in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint and Pontiac received calls.
``We're shocked and pretty much appalled that Republicans would sink to this in the last 48 hours of the campaign,'' Mollineau said.
Michigan Republican Party executive director Greg McNeilly said recorded phone calls have been made by former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler and by President Bush to Michigan voters, but he didn't know anything about the calls described by the Kerry campaign.
GOP officials, meanwhile, have been getting reports of phone calls being made by a person who says he's representing the Bush campaign, and then unlooses a string of swear words. Another phone call is said to tell voters they've been drafted for military service because Bush needs them for the war in Iraq.
``There are so many reports of phone calls going on right now that appear to be untoward,'' McNeilly said.
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Associated Press Writer Donna De La Cruz in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Kerry-Edwards: johnkerry.com
Bush-Cheney: georgewbush.com
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