Obama plans Monday Minnesota visit
ST. PAUL -- President Barack Obama plans a southern Minnesota visit next week as part of a Midwestern rural tour.
The National Journal reports that Obama plans stops in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois as part of a Monday-through-Wednesday bus tour announced earlier. Details for the Minnesota and Illinois visits have not been announced.
After the Midwest swing, Obama plans his family's annual New England trip to Martha's Vineyard.
Obama is to be in Minnesota Monday. On Tuesday, the president heads to Peosta, Iowa, where he will hold a rural economic forum at the Northeast Iowa Community College.
The rural trip wraps up in Illinois Wednesday.
The Journal quotes Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney as saying the bus trip is to see "what's going on in their local economies, what they think Washington can and should do to enhance economic growth, enhance job creation in their parts of the country."
Carney said that Obama "looks forward to talking to the folks about growing the economy, creating jobs."
The trip is being called an official visit, not a campaign event.
Don Davis reports for Forum Communications Co.