Idahoan says he was joking about hunting Obama

BOISE, IDAHO — An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful said he was only joking when he said he would buy a license to hunt President Obama.

Rex Rammell, a long-shot candidate slated to run against incumbent C.L. “Butch” Otter in the May GOP primary, made the comment at a Republican rally Tuesday in Twin Falls, where talk turned to the state’s planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag.

When an audience member shouted a question about “Obama tags,” Rammell responded, “The Obama tags? We’d buy some of those.”

Rammell told the Associated Press on Thursday that he saw no reason to apologize because he was joking.

“What I would say to all my Democrat Idahoans: Take a deep breath and relax,” he said. “We’re not going to go out and hunt Obama.”

He also told the Times-News newspaper in Twin Falls, “I would never support him being assassinated.”

After Rammell’s comment was published in the Times-News, he said one person sent him an e-mail indicating he would ask the FBI for an investigation.

Threatening the president can be a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Debbie Dujanovic Bertram, an FBI spokeswoman in Salt Lake City, said the agency couldn’t comment on whether it was investigating or if it had received a complaint.