'I am an Obama supporter,' Tom Scholz says in letter asking the Republican to quit using 'More Than a Feeling' in presidential campaign.

Tom Scholz, the founder and guitarist of classic-rock group Boston, wants Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to lose that "Feeling." The former Baptist minister and sometime bass player has been playing the 1976 Boston hit "More Than a Feeling" at his campaign rallies for months, and Scholz isn't pleased. In a letter sent to the Huckabee campaign that was obtained by Rolling Stone, Scholz asks the former Arkansas governor to help "undo the damage" he claims Huckabee has caused by the "misleading" use of his band's song. He adds that he was shocked that the candidate would use Boston's music without consent.

"It has come to my attention that your campaign's use of my song 'More Than a Feeling' and my band's name, Boston, has resulted in a great deal of false information, which it now appears may exist permanently on the Internet," wrote Scholz. "While I'm flattered that you are fond of my song, I'm shocked that you would use it and the name Boston to promote yourself without my consent. Your campaign's use of 'More Than a Feeling,' coupled with the representation of one of your supporters as a member 'of Boston' clearly implies that the band Boston, and specifically one of its members, has endorsed your candidacy, neither of which is true."

On the campaign trail last year, Huckabee performed covers of the Boston hit and invited former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau, who left the band in 1980, to play with him. In his letter, Scholz notes that it was he, not Goudreau, who wrote, arranged, produced, engineered and played all the guitars on the recording of "Feeling." "Your claim that this was 'the guy who originally did it' is a bit mystifying, since he never played on that recording, nor has he been 'of Boston' since he left my band over a quarter century ago, after performing with us for only three years."

Scholz goes on to say that his band has never endorsed a political candidate, "and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for. In fact, although I'm impressed you learned my bass guitar part on 'More Than a Feeling,' I am an Obama supporter.

"While this may seem like a little thing to you, Boston has been my life's work," Scholz continues. "I hold the trademark to the name, and my reputation is inexorably tied to it. By using my song, and my band's name ... you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I've been ripped off, dude! The unfortunate misconceptions caused by your campaign now live indefinitely on Internet news sites and blog archives."

Scholz signs off with the phrase "still evolving," a slap at Huckabee's disavowals of the theory of evolution.

A spokesperson for the Huckabee campaign could not be reached for comment at press time.

The letter marks the second time this month a rocker has asked one of the Republican candidates to lay off their music. Heartland rocker John Mellencamp recently requested that GOP front-runner John McCain stop using songs of his, such as "Our Country," at campaign events.

"Are you sure you want to use his music to promote Senator McCain's efforts?" reads a letter sent to the campaign by the publicist for the unabashedly liberal Indiana songwriter. "Logic says that the facts might prove to be an embarrassment, were they to be circulated widely."

The McCain camp said last week that "Our Country," and a few others by Mellencamp, would no longer be played at events. Mellencamp had supported Democratic candidate John Edwards before he dropped out of the race.

Get informed! Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including everything from the latest news on the candidates to on-the-ground multimedia reports from our 51 citizen journalists, MTV and MySpace's Presidential Dialogues, and much more.