Air Force One is scheduled to touch down in Austin around noon. He is to arrive in Dallas around 3:30 p.m. and depart by 6:35 p.m. The president's first order of business will be a brief tarmac meeting in Austin with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who has called him a socialist, criticized his spending policies, and sued to overturn the new health care law. They'll talk about border security. After an event focused on higher education at the University of Texas at Austin, Obama will fly to Dallas for a dinner at the Highland Park home of plaintiffs' lawyer Russell Budd. Dinner tickets range from $10,000 to $100,000. If Obama presses the point on Bush's home turf, only a select few will hear it. Proceeds from the Dallas dinner go to the Democrats' Senate campaign committee, which has collected $2.5 million from Texans this election – less than half the sum Cornyn's side has brought in, a reflection of Democrats' deficit in Texas.
Local Republicans have organized a demonstration featuring conservative radio host Mark Davis and Katrina Pierson, one of the nation's most visible tea party activists. The state GOP also is staging a rally at the Capitol.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, looms over all presidential visits to Dallas. But the city has a long history of the nation's commander in chief stopping by.
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