A Republican county clerk in Indiana said she apologized for distributing to two of her employees an Internet blog posting referring to Barack Obama as a "young, black Adolf Hitler."
According to a police report, the employees discovered printouts of the unsigned post at their desks after returning from Labor Day weekend. They had both voted for Obama in the Democratic primary.
Johnson County Clerk Jill Jackson told The Associated Press that she was merely passing along an item that already was circulating in the office and that she "never intended to offend anyone."
The posting does not mention Obama by name but refers to events in his life that make it clear Obama is the target.
Local Republican Party officials call the incident unacceptable, saying it taints Jackson's ability to appear unbiased in administering this year's election.