Um, Dana? How Come Nobody Wanted To Hear The Presidnet Speak?
Q Can you clarify the circumstances with the Convention Center versus a private residence? There were reports that —
MS. PERINO: I did over the weekend, though you may not have seen the comments, so I’ll just repeat them here, which is that as you know, our practice has been for fundraisers that the President does, if they’re at a venue like a hotel, that they are open to press. The McCain campaign has a practice that’s different, and that is that all of their fundraisers, regardless of location, are closed to the press. And so to accommodate the practices, they decided to move it to a private residence today.
Q There was a specific report that ended up getting pretty widely circulated out of Arizona that said the event was moved because of lackluster sales, and also because of feared protests. Are either of those points accurate?
MS. PERINO: Not that I’m aware of. I’d refer you to the McCain campaign for those. But I would remind you that given that it’s a free country, no matter where we go there’s always a possibility for protests, so I don’t think I’d put a lot of stock into that concern.
Whay Are Taxpayers Footing The Bill For Chimpy’s GOP Fundraising Activiites?
Q Can I ask one last thing? What is the division on the cost of the trips between official business and then party business?
MS. PERINO: There’s some — there is a formula that exists. I don’t have it off the top of my head, but it’s followed whenever we go on trips like this.
Q Can we run that down at some point?
MS. PERINO: We’ll see —
Q — in the next couple days since — get a sense of which part of the trips?
MS. PERINO: Maybe you should look at your reporting from last year, because — or in 2006 cycle. We had the exact same conversations over and over again. So I’ll try to get it for you right now, but —
Q That would be great.
Q — because of fuel costs. Does it still cost $68,000 an hour to operate Air Force One?
MS. PERINO: I have no idea, Roger.
Q Could we get an update, maybe?
Q I think our question — one question I have is the breakdown of this trip, because there’s a little bit of official and there’s a little — you know, certain days are —
MS. PERINO: I don’t know how specific we get in breaking that down, but I’ll see what I can get you. Okay?
Q Thanks.