ICYMI: “President Obama Back in Florida this Week for Official Events, But Also Campaigning”

Excerpts from the Tampa Bay Times
By: Alex Leary and Adam C. Smith
February 20, 2012
 
“President Barack Obama is rewriting Florida’s advertising tagline: Come for the sun and soak up the electoral votes.
“When Air Force One lands Thursday in Miami then Orlando, it will mark Obama’s 14th visit since his inauguration, and second this year.
“Not to mention trips this month by Vice President Joe Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama, and a string of previous jaunts by the two. Tampa, Tallahassee, Orlando, Homestead, Cape Canaveral, Sarasota, Miami . . . they’ve been everywhere…
“‘It would be naïve to think there wasn’t a political or campaign purpose to most of his travel,’ said Gary Jacobson, a political science professor at the University of California San Diego who has studied presidential travel. ‘It’s part of the permanent campaign presidents are engaged in these days.’
“Ohio has been Obama’s top swing state target with 17 visits, followed by Pennsylvania with 15 then Florida, according to statistics maintained by CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.
“Last week, Obama paid his ninth visit to Wisconsin. He drops in frequently to Colorado, Iowa, Virginia and Nevada. Travel to Republican-heavy states is less common…
“On Thursday afternoon, Obama will hold an official event at the University of Miami, where he’ll discuss plans to shore up the economy. While in town, he’ll rake cash at the Biltmore Hotel and the home of Democratic fundraiser Chris Korge, where a photo with the president will cost $15,000.
“Air Force One will ferry him to Orlando for a $30,000 per-person fundraising dinner at the home of NBA star Vince Carter.
“Taxpayers will pick up a big part of the cost.
“When Obama took Air Force One to Orlando last month for an official event focused on growing tourism, it cost $179,750 per flight hour (including fuel, annual maintenance and other costs). The trip down was two hours and afterward, Obama flew to New York for a fundraiser before returning to Washington. Total air time was about five hours, or $898,000.
“At times, the president’s official events have been hard to distinguish from campaign events, such as his trip to Iowa last summer where he stood in front of a picturesque red barn adorned with an American flag…
“‘It’s just coincidence that every time the president gets on a plane, a helicopter or a bus he’s immediately carted off to important states for the November election,’ scoffed Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“‘We can be intellectually honest and have this conversation. Other presidents have campaigned,’ Priebus acknowledged. ‘However, this president has taken campaigning to a new stratosphere’…
“The White House made its presence felt, too: Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited a charter school in South Florida; Interior Secretary Ken Salazar came to the Everglades to announce a ban on importing Burmese pythons; Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stopped in Tampa to tout the $536 million I-4/Lee Roy Selmon Expressway Connector; Labor Secretary Hilda Solis met with minority businesspeople in Orlando; and First Lady Michelle Obama visited a Hispanic grocer in Tampa to highlight healthy eating (and made campaign fundraising stops in Sarasota and Palm Beach)…
“Obama started his swing state focus almost immediately after the 2008 election. Three weeks after his inauguration, he went on a three-state tour to places he carried: Indiana, Florida and Virginia…”
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