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Posted on 10/13/2009 12:04:33 PM PDT by Baladas
PITTSBURGH — For President Barack Obama, it's almost as if the election campaign never ended. Just look at his travel schedule.
The same states that Obama targeted to win the White House are seeing an awful lot of the president, Vice President Joe Biden and top Cabinet officials. Only this year, the taxpayers are footing the multimillion-dollar tab for the trips, and Obama officials are delivering wheelbarrows of economic stimulus money — also compliments of taxpayers.
An Associated Press review of administration travel records shows that three of every four official trips Obama and his key lieutenants made in his first seven months in office were to the 28 states Obama won. Add trips to Missouri and Montana — both of which Obama narrowly lost — and almost 80 percent of the administration's official domestic travel has been concentrated in states likely to be key to Obama's re-election effort in 2012.
While similar data hasn't been compiled for previous administrations, new presidents traditionally have used official travel to shore up — and add to — their political base. Consider President George W. Bush's travel record, for instance.
"When we were trying to build support for key policy initiatives, it made sense for President Bush to travel to states with persuadable citizens," says Scott Stanzel, a former White House spokesman who was the press secretary for Bush's 2004 re-election bid. "That meant visits to 'purple states' where people weren't as likely to already support or oppose the president's plans."
For Obama, the key policy initiative early on was a $787 billion economic stimulus package. While aimed at the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, it also gave the new administration a chance to reap political benefits traditionally reserved for lawmakers touting pork-barrel projects back home.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
I hope Palin (our next President) is taking notes of this ‘Precedent’.
Red states don’t need him.
I think Major Garrett needs to shake hands with him and discuss this right now (Garrett has swine flu).
I had to click the link to see if that was really the title. I guess litteracy is optional over at AP.
Good, stay in blue land. You didn’t even have to visit Louisiana!
I hear that.....bless his heart. :(
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