The Great Mitt Hunter

When will politicians learn not to pad their resume?

To hear Mitt Romney talk on the campaign trail, you might think the Republican presidential candidate had a gun rack in the back of his pickup truck.

"I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he said this week in Keene, N.H., to a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap.

Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience is limited to two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve in Georgia.

Last year's trip was an outing with major donors to the Republican Governors Association, which Romney headed at the time.

An aide said Wednesday that Romney was not trying to mislead anyone, although he confirmed Romney had been hunting only on those occasions in his life.

This is the same kind of stuff that got Al Gore and John Kerry in trouble - padding their resume and pretending to be enthusiasts of politically beneficial sports activities (remember John Kerry's "can I get me a license" when he walked into a local sporting goods store before his famous hunting trip).

Advice to politicians - tell the truth the first time, don't pad your experience, and you'll have nothing to explain later.