We're talking about the most important job on the planet. He's not running a theme park here; I think Thompson's annoyance with this type of crap is refreshing.
Until the 1930’s it was thought unpresidential to openly campaign for the White House:
A Front-Porch Campaign
Unlike Bryan, who toured the U.S. by railroad, McKinley followed the precedent of other candidates and received visitors at his home in Canton, Ohio—though his goal was hardly to maintain privacy. In the Republicans’ “front porch campaign,” multitudes of party loyalists (and some Gold Democrats who rejected Bryan and the Chicago platform) journeyed to Canton, often using free or discounted passes from friendly railroads. Addressing the crowds from his porch, McKinley promised a return to good times if Republicans took office in Washington. After the speeches, Ida McKinley often served lemonade to the thirsty crowds. The McKinley’s were not always repaid kindly: visitors ripped apart their picket fence, little by little, and took the pieces home as souvenirs.
http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/republicans.html
In American political parlance, a front porch campaign is one in which the candidate remains at home, making speeches to supporters who come to visit, but does not travel around or otherwise actively campaign. The successful presidential campaigns of James A. Garfield in 1880 and William McKinley in 1896 are perhaps the two best-known front porch campaigns. Another president that had been known for his Front Porch Campaign was Warren G. Harding during the Presidential Election of 1920. McKinley’s opposing candidate, William Jennings Bryan, gave over 600 speeches, and traveled many miles all over the United States to campaign, but McKinley overruled this by spending about two-times as much money campaigning. While McKinley was at his Canton, Ohio home supporting his “Front-Porch Campaign,” Mark Hanna was out raising millions to help with the campaign.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_porch_campaign