Latest Travel News:

Obama's Travel Mixes Policy, Politics
June 22, 2009

That would be none. Since becoming president, he hasn't set foot in a state he won by nearly 40 percentage points in November's general election.

But thousands have heard Obama speak in Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Florida, all among the 16 states he has visited since taking office. In each of those places, his margin of victory or defeat last November was fewer than five percentage points.

As recently as last week, Obama warned that the changes he is seeking in health care, energy policy and financial regulation require "taking on the status quo in Washington." And that, he told an audience of donors who paid as much as $30,400 a couple to see him, "requires the courage to look . . . beyond the next election."

Yet during his first five months in office, public policy and electoral politics have come together seamlessly in his domestic travel itinerary. On nearly every trip he has taken, Obama has followed the timeworn path of presidential travel -- go where the votes matter most.

Even Republicans have offered few complaints about his domestic destinations. Good-government groups demand only that Obama live up to the pledge of transparency he made during his campaign by more openly detailing how the fundraising elements of his trips are accounted for and reimbursed.