President's "Debt-End Tour" is a 2012 campaign effort funded by taxpayers, RNC says; issues mock briefing book... As President Obama heads to Minnesota and Iowa today to begin his three-day rural bus tour, the Republican National Committee is blasting the trip as a campaign swing through swing states, funded by taxpayer dollars. The group has dubbed the trip the "Debt-End Bus Tour," and Chairman Reince Priebus will hold a press conference later today. But he's already taken to Twitter to deride the trip. RNC also put out a video, citing grave economic stats under President Obama's watch, and released a downloadable "Press Corps Briefing Book" designed to look exactly like the White House Rural Council's new Report "Jobs And Economic Security For Rural America." (Above: From the RNC website, a faux Presidential bus, with America's lowered credit rating on the license plate)
"Americans want lower taxes, less government and the economy turned around. Not a taxpayer-funded bus tour. #DebtEndTour," Priebus tweeted this morning.
The President's debt plan, according to the RNC document, is "A Big Ol' Hunk Of Nothing On Two Thick Slices Of Nada." That's less colorful than calling the debt plan "a Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich," but it gets the point across.
Not a campaign tour, White House says...
Candidate Obama handily won the states his is visiting this week in 2008, but his poll numbers have been sliding there in recent months. The President's first stop today is in Minnesota, home of Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who won the GP straw poll this weekend. This afternoon, he visits Iowa, where newly announced GOP presidential contender, Texas Governor Rick Perry, is campaigning today.
White House spokesmen have been pushing back against the idea that the President's trip is a campaign swing since last week.
"We sort of have a rule, which is just because Republican candidates are campaigning in a certain state, that doesn't prevent us from going there. Because otherwise we would probably travel nowhere," Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told reporters during a conference call on Friday.
Update: Aboard Air Force One en route to St. Paul, Minnesota, Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that the President's trip is not for campaigning. Carney said the President is not yet in the primaries, and he is doing what Presidents do: Talking and listening to the American people.
*RNC image and video