Say you're a rookie political candidate eager to raise your profile. Here's one sure way to do that you DO NOT want to try: publicly call for the president of the United States to be hanged.

That's what Republican state House candidate Joshua Black did on Twitter Monday. It generated an widely read article in the Tampa Bay Times, a call from Anderson Cooper's guest booker, an interview for Political Connections on Bay News 9 and, naturally, a visit from the Secret Service.

Black, a taxi driver, said that Secret Service representatives were waiting for him at his house while he taped the Political Connections interview.

"It was not a threat," said Black, insisting that his tweet — "I'm past impeachment. It's time to arrest and hang him high" — was merely expressing outrage over the president killing U.S. citizens with drone attacks and without due process.

Black said he resigned from the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee at the request of county chairman Michael Guju. But he dismissed a tweet from Gov. Rick Scott Tuesday that Black "immediately withdraw his candidacy to represent families of Pinellas County."

"I do not take orders from the governor, I'm staying in the race," said Black, a candidate for Florida House District 68.