First lady's trips boost health _ and her husband

NANCY BENAC Associated Press Published:


Michelle Obama is on a national tour to promote the second anniversary of her campaign against childhood obesity. The images have been disarming, intriguing and non-political -- just the type of thing her husband's re-election campaign can't get enough of.


In recent weeks Mrs. Obama has seemingly been everywhere: Doing pushups with Ellen DeGeneres. Serving veggie pizza to Jay Leno. Playing tug-of-war with Jimmy Fallon in the White House. And now making a rare four-state tour -- Arkansas, Florida, Iowa and Texas -- to mark the two-year-point for her "Let's Move" initiative.


In an election year, it's all to the good for Barack Obama that his popular wife is traveling the country promoting can't-miss issues like healthy living and support for military families. To a more limited extent, Mrs. Obama also fills a more overtly political role by headlining private fundraisers that raise millions for her husband's campaign, reaching out to supporters through conference calls to various states and shooting out periodic emails to campaign backers around the country.




Voters typically don't pay attention to whether an event is political or not, says Democratic strategist Chris Lehane.

"They're paying attention to whether they like what they're seeing and whether they connect to it," Lehane says. And with a first lady talking about issues that transcend the partisan divide, he says, "the mere fact that they're out there talking reflects well on their spouse."

And it can't be lost on Obama's political advisers that two of the four states on Mrs. Obama's three-day tour -- Iowa and Florida -- will be political battlegrounds in the fall.









What parent wouldn't think it was cool when she confessed to her dinner guests at the Olive Garden that her daughters aren't that interested in the White House kitchen garden -- "because anything I do they're not interested in."


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