This weekend marks the President’s 11th trip to Ohio in support of his own interests and particularly those of Ohio Democrats like Ted Strickland.
So how much have all those visits cost you?
Well, when the President came to Ohio in June to appear at an event where he promoted the stimulus and highlighted his support for Strickland during a speech that lasted a whole 10 minutes, Mark Knoller of CBS News gave us this number:
The trip Columbus probably cost taxpayers between $500,000 and $1 million.
Air Force One alone bills out at $100,000 per hour, and the round trip is nearly two hours. Adding to the cost are military aircraft to carry limos and secret service vehicles, Marine One on standby, Secret Service, local police and other factors.
And that was for a visit where he was on the ground in Ohio for no more than an hour.
So, just to be generous, we’ll use the average of Knoller’s numbers for the other 10 visits.
That means the President coming to Ohio to support Strickland and his own causes has cost taxpayers at least $8.25 million. When you consider overnight visits and other travel within the state I’m sure that number grows.
You tell me. Is it worth it?