MURDERERS FOR BUSH

Don King, the wild-haired boxing promoter, is touring the country with Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to tout President Bush's re-election....

King's rap sheet makes him an odd choice for Bush front man. He was convicted in the 1967 beating death of a man who owed him money and spent nearly four years in prison. In 1954, he killed a man who was robbing a numbers house he operated in Cleveland, but it was ruled self-defense.

King also has beaten tax evasion and fraud charges, faced numerous lawsuits from boxers and their handlers and endured three grand jury investigations and an FBI sting operation...

"I said to him, you know they are going to come after us, they are going to attack us, and they are going to try to smear us," Gillespie said Wednesday. "But the fact is, I know the man, he is a friend of mine, and I'm proud to stand with him today." ...

In May, King attended a Republican fund-raiser in Washington and shook hands with Bush.

--AP


About that second killing -- "beating" isn't exactly the right word:

He stomped a man to death in broad daylight over a $600 gambling debt. The judge, however, suspiciously reduced the charge to manslaughter. King served less than four years.

Gee, maybe King could go to work for Bush running some overseas prisons.