Obama arrived in Minnesota earlier today. "I am very pleased to be out of Washington," he said. White House press secretary Jay Carney bridled at the notion that the three-day bus tour, which traverses three battleground states Obama won in 2008, had anything to do with the fact that he’s struggling to maintain support in those states ahead of the 2012 contest. Carney said it was ridiculous to suggest that “anytime the president leaves Washington, it’s campaigning,” and that Obama was “doing what presidents do, going out into the country.”