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Fla. rep. 'flabbergasted' Obama call wasn't prank
MIAMI (AP) -- First she hung up on President-elect Barack Obama - twice. Now Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is fielding calls from angry constituents who think she did it on purpose.
The Miami congresswoman says she and the Democrat had a good laugh Wednesday after she apologized profusely for assuming his calls were a prank.
"I was just flabbergasted," Ros-Lehtinen said Thursday. "I just hung up on the most powerful man on earth - twice."
She said Obama called to congratulate her on her re-election, saying he was looking forward to working with her as the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs committee.
But she assumed it was a radio station prank. Typically, when high-ranking officials call, an aide calls in advance to verify. That was the procedure recently when Ros-Lehtinen received a call from Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"But this one was just out of the blue he's calling me. And I said, 'Boy, you're a much better impersonator than that guy on Saturday Night Live,' and he's laughing and he's thinking I'm kidding," she said.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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