Obama Cabinet Plans a Listening Tour of Rural America

The White House announced this afternoon that President Obama has directed many members of his Cabinet to begin what it describes as a “listening tour” of rural America this summer, beginning on Wednesday just outside Erie, Pa., in Wattsburg. With little notice, the first session begins tomorrow, as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack head there to talk about rural broadband service. The event, which is supposed to occur at noon at Seneca High School there, is expected to highlight a piece of the $787 billion stimulus package devoted to that issue. Many of the areas listed for visits by other Cabinet secretaries are situated in swing states — Zanesville, Ohio, for example, or parts of North Carolina — which turned out favorably for Mr. Obama in the 2008 election...The calendar is empty then for about six weeks, until Mr. Vilsack again ventures into swing territory in Scottsbluff, Neb., and an end-of-September event in Las Cruces, N.M., on rural infrastructure...NYTimes