Obama's bus tour costing taxpayers thousands

By: Mark Knoller
Topics: Campaign 2012

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the YMCA at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011.

(Credit: AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

If Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Herman Cain or any of the other presidential challengers were to embark on a three-day bus trip like the one now underway by President Obama, it would cost their campaigns tens of thousands of dollars. Perhaps more.

They would have to pay a variety of expenses, including:

air travel to their first destination
leasing of one or more buses appropriate to the journey
rental for halls or meeting rooms for their candidates' appearances
the cost of lodging and meals for their candidate and staff

But not the Obama campaign. The White House declared that Mr. Obama's three-day trip through North Carolina and Virginia are official events and not campaign appearances, even though the two states are known to be political objectives of his re-election bid.

So Mr. Obama's expenses are borne by taxpayers, including:

the pro-rated costs of his flights aboard Marine One and Air Force One that brought him to his first stop yesterday in Asheville, NC
the two buses used by him and his staff, owned and operated by the United States Secret Service
costs associated with setting up speech sites including microphones, speakers, amplifiers, teleprompters and TV lights
lodging and meals for the president and his political staff

It's an advantage enjoyed by every incumbent president seeking re-election -- and a disadvantage endured by his challengers. And though the White House has said the trip is not political, Mr. Obama has repeatedly used his speeches to take Republicans to task for opposing the provisions of his jobs bill.

"They said no to putting teachers and construction workers back on the job," the president said yesterday in Asheville. "They said no to rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our airports. They said no to cutting taxes for middle-class families and small businesses when all they've been doing is cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans."

He continued: "They want to gut regulations; they want to let Wall Street do whatever it wants. They want to drill more. And they want to repeal health care reform. That's their jobs plan."

On the Senate floor Monday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., raised concerns about the partisan rhetoric from his 2008 presidential rival.

"In fact, I was somewhat taken aback, since the president and his spokesperson had billed his trip as a taxpayer-paid visit," said McCain.

He said Mr. Obama has the right to express his views about GOP policies but wondered, "is that appropriate on the taxpayers' dime? Since it is clearly campaigning."

A day before the trip begin, White House officials held a conference call with reporters and repeatedly made the case that the president's trip was about the jobs bill, not his re-election, even though he was traveling in states he won in 2008 and wants to keep in his column next year as well.

Some of Mr. Obama's bus trip events had the sound and feel of campaign rallies. As he arrived in Asheville for his first event, his audience on the tarmac chanted, "Four more years!"

And Mr. Obama himself would shift into the higher-decibel, campaign-style cadence that served him so well as a candidate for president three years ago.

If this bus trip was billed as a political journey, his campaign and/or the Democratic party would be paying the costs, but not as much as his presidential challengers might. He could still ride the 747s that serve as Air Force One, and pay only a small pro-rated portion of the expense, as per Federal Election Commission rules.

To date, the White House has refused repeated requests from CBS News to disclose its calculations of how much the Obama campaign or DNC must reimburse the government for Mr. Obama's political travel expenses.

Mark Knoller
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent.
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by jcgaunet October 20, 2011 9:41 AM EDT: O-ba-mination!! When will our "leaders" start leading by example and show what he is personally doing to cut the debt? Oh yeah, only Ron Paul is doing that (by taking a $39K salary when he becomes pres); Reply to this comment


by SunCrackedSoul October 20, 2011 9:30 AM EDT: Obama's bus tour costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.
And they care?; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey October 19, 2011 10:35 PM EDT: [Obama's bus tour costing taxpayers thousands]
-------------------------------------------
bus tour costing thousands?

is he using any of that $400/gal afghan gas?

http://www.military.com/news/article/gas-costs-400-a-gallon-in-afghanistan.html; Reply to this comment

by becker333 October 19, 2011 8:59 PM EDT

OMG look at those mind numb robots in his audience.............
my dog is more informed than the avg Dem voter...............
PITIFUL

Reply to this comment


by slappy-mcjohnson October 19, 2011 9:08 PM EDT: And yet I see the average Dem voter being less of a parrot than the average repub.

Both parties make your dog look smart.

by ron6hats October 19, 2011 8:38 PM EDT

Please request from the correct agency of the federal government an audit of the cost of the presidents plane and bus trip to NC and other swing states to campaign for reelection in 2012. Then we can send his campaign a bill for this political trip. North Carolina already has John Edwards scheduled to go on trial for campaign fund violations. If Obama's campaign fails to pay for this taxpayer paid trip to NC we could a least show proof of another misuse of taxpayer faith and funds by the president of hope and change.

Reply to this comment


by Ben37221 October 19, 2011 10:14 PM EDT: While you are sending Obama Campaign a bill, don't forget to send one to Reagan's campaign, as well as George W. Bush for "misuse of taxpayer faith and funds", not just by the the president of hope and change(Obama), but by the president of millioniers should pay higher tax rate than bus drivers(Reagan), and the president of death and distruction(W. Bush-about one million Iraqs killed, and over five thousand Americans due to war of convenience. They also took a bus trip promoting their Bills.

Unless you are advocating for a seperate rule for Obama. I forgot, that is what you republicans have been doing since Obama came to Office.
Look at hypocrates in the dictionary, you will see your picture and that of your fellow republicans.

by kcsteak2 October 19, 2011 6:53 PM EDT

Tell me Mark, have the Republican Presidents done this much "campaigning" on the taxpayers dime?

Also, have any Republican Presidents "wives" spent 10 million on traveling?

I would be ashamed to be a supposed "journalist" in America.

Reply to this comment


by slappy-mcjohnson October 19, 2011 8:51 PM EDT: have the Republican Presidents done this much "campaigning" on the taxpayers dime?

-------

Yep. Both sides are rotten.


by CaptainSmollett October 19, 2011 6:07 PM EDT: Obama never seems to cease campaigning.
Then again, that's all he knows how to do.
At everything else, he's incompetent.; Reply to this comment

by tcp53 October 19, 2011 6:05 PM EDT

Obama is just an "elite" WELFARE BUM, leeching off the government. The American voter is going to PUNISH Obama and the Marxist-hijacked Democratic Party in 2012. Obama literally OWNS the $4.3 TRILLION debt that he's added to the American taxpayer......

Reply to this comment


by Ben37221 October 19, 2011 10:30 PM EDT: Obama owns the $4.3 trillion he added trying to clean up the mess the republicans party created. Oh, like the economy you and the republican party recked, or trying to bring to an end the two wars the republicans started that have cost this country close to $10 trillion dollars and counting, or the deregulation that your party brought about and continue to advocate that has led to distruction of homes and families across the country.
The republican party is a party of no-concience. Due to your actions millions of Americans are out of work, yet you have the ordercity to call Obama elite Welfare bum while you defind the billions of dollars in welfare you give to the oil companies inspite of the fact that the oil companies are the most profitable companies in the world.
You and your teapublicans are comfortable giving welfare to the corperations and only against welfare for the least among us. Yet your party like to claim to be the party of faith, while along the way, republicans forgot about Jesus teaching of taking care of the least among us. Just like everything else, the Republicans have turn Christ teaching upside down. indeed, the party of shame.


by Ophelia_Good October 19, 2011 6:04 PM EDT: The president should have money set aside from his paycheck...of which the citizens pay him....for his re-election. No new funds should be used for his re-election campaign. No personal money...no bus or the like. If he receives money for (re)election campaigns the money should have the donor's name and amount published every month by a private company.; Reply to this comment