id Ted Turner attend a Republican conference with George W. Bush on Capitol Hill this week? That's what The Hill newspaper reported on Wednesday: "Media mogul Ted Turner also exited from a meeting sporting a 'compassionate conservative' button, and said the Bush message to the House GOP was 'excellent' and 'right on track.'" The Hotline picked up the story on Thursday (calling Turner a "surprise guest" at the event), and Rush Limbaugh also repeated it.

Only it was a case of mistaken identity. The man in question wasn't Turner, but Jim Martin, a longtime Republican activist and head of the 60 Plus Association. He looks so much like Turner that people introducing him before speeches regularly point out that he, in fact, isn't Turner. A few years ago in Arlington, says Martin, Ethel Kennedy hailed him. "Hi Ted!" she said, and started to strike up a conversation. When Martin told her he wasn't Turner, she walked away.

Martin contacted Albert Eisele, editor of The Hill, to inform him of the mistake. Eisele asked Martin to send him a photo, which he has done. "We'll probably run something on it next week," Eisele told NR on Thursday. Martin just laughs off the whole incident. "I may look like Ted Turner," he says. "But please don't hold it against me."