Bush's Air Force One advantage

[Champ]

'Official' travel covered by taxpayers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is using Air Force One for re-election travel more heavily than any predecessor, wringing maximum political mileage from a perk of office paid for by taxpayers.


While Democratic rival John Kerry digs into his campaign bank account to charter a plane to roam the country, Bush often travels at no cost to his campaign simply by declaring a trip "official" travel rather than "political."

Even when the White House deems a trip as political, the cost to Bush's campaign is minimal. In such instances, the campaign must only pay the government the equivalent of a comparable first-class fare for each political traveler on each leg, Federal Election Commission guidelines say.

Usually, that means paying a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for the president and a handful of aides. It's a minuscule sum, compared to the $56,800-per-hour the Air Force estimates it costs to run Air Force One.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/31/bush.travelcosts.ap/index.html

[dedhed]

1. It kills my that my tax money is helping to finance his re-election trips!

I offset the indigestion by occasionally sending Kerry some gas money...

https://contribute.johnkerry.com/contribute.html

:bounce:

[RobertSeattle]

2. Just wait till next year

Once Kerry gets into office, the VWRC will start constantly harping on "political" use of Air Force One. Bank on it.