With another campaign rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, President Barack Obama seems to be competing with Tonight Show host Jay Leno in the number of visits a year to Sin City, notes Grumpy Editor.
Obama, recognizing Nevada as a key battleground state in the upcoming election, returns to the casino-studded neon capital over the weekend, on the heels of another visit just 18 days earlier.
It marks the president’s eighth visit to Las Vegas and ninth trip to Nevada this year.
Obama is esxpected to stay three nights in the Las Vegas area before heading to Denver for an Oct. 3 presidential debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Jay Leno, meanwhile, reappears for his stand-up routine in Las Vegas Oct. 12 and 13 --- with six more appearances scheduled on The Strip through next Sept. 20.
The difference between Leno and the president, however, is that Leno encourages folks to visit Sin City.
Obama is remembered for taking two negative blasts at Las Vegas.
In February, 2009, one was directed at business meetings when the president declared, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.”
A year later, the president followed that with, “You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”
Las Vegas’ economy then turned south, triggering pink slips to thousands of casino industry workers, knocking out construction, and sending the area’s unemployment and home foreclosure rates soaring to the nation’s highest.
Comments