Football Fans Have Fun With Kerry’s Fumbles

Sen. John F. Kerry throws like a girl -- or so claims Football Fans for Truth, one of the newest independent 527 groups that has sprouted up on President Bush’s behalf.

Founded this month by two Washington lawyers during their fantasy football draft, the tongue-in-cheek group blasts Kerry for his sports gaffes, including flubbing the name of Wisconsin’s Lambeau Field’s name as “Lambert Field” and cheering the Ohio State Buckeyes at an appearance in Michigan.

“Our primary accomplishment is to give people a couple of yuks -- the campaign isn’t exactly loaded with them,” said Jeff Larroca, 39, the group’s director and co-founder, a registered Republican. “It gets a little bit boring to have to discuss all the practical and sober reasons to support the president.”

Larroca and Chairman Dino Panagopoulos, 37, have raised a few thousand dollars and plan to post a billboard mocking Kerry in Green Bay, Wis.

The group’s website, FootballFansforTruth.us, takes potshots at Kerry’s baseball knowledge, hunting skills and love of windsurfing.

“Leave it to Republicans: After one of the most emotionally grueling and difficult weeks that we’ve had in Iraq, the only thing they’re talking about is fun and games,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Jano Cabrera.

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Moore Optimistic

The left-wing documentarian Michael Moore has a message for Democrats: Snap out of it.

A 1,000-word letter from Moore posted on his website (MichaelMoore.com) calls naysaying Democrats worried about Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential chances a “a bunch of nervous ninnies.”

Moore’s pep talk, also making the rounds on e-mail, includes a four-point rationale for why Kerry can win in spite of slipping poll numbers.

“Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies,” Moore writes. “Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming!”

Moore’s idea of a prime Democratic presidential contender? The Boss, Bruce Springsteen. “But guys like him don’t run -- and neither do you or I,” Moore wrote. “People like Kerry run.”

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Frustrated Moderate

He might be a Republican, but Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island isn’t sure he’ll support President Bush.

The moderate lawmaker might write in another Republican candidate rather than Bush, many of whose policies Chafee opposes. (Chafee was the lone Republican to vote against the October 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.)

Chafee said supporting the president in heavily Democratic Rhode Island was a lost cause anyway.

“It wasn’t that long ago that moderates had more of a voice,” said Chafee, who was appointed to the Senate in 1999 after the death of his father, Sen. John H. Chafee. “It’s a cycle that I hope will come back,” he told reporters last week.

The Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign declined to comment.

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Duly Quoted

“I have thought on occasion of running for office, but lately I’ve been thinking I’d rather be a campaign manager -- maybe for one of my daughters or even one of my grandchildren.” -- Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, in an online chat last week.

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Compiled from staff, Web and wire reports by Times staff researcher Susannah Rosenblatt.

The latest state polls and an interactive map exploring electoral vote scenarios are available at latimes.com/pollmap.