This article undertakes an empirical assessment of a key element of the permanent campaign for the presidency by systematically examining presidential travel from 1977 through 2004. I find that presidential travel does target large, competitive states, and that such strategic targeting has increased over time, supporting the notion that the permanent campaign is on the rise. However, substantial differences between reelection and other years, as well as measures of the breadth of presidential travel and proportional attention to the states, indicate that electoral concerns do not thoroughly permeate patterns of presidential activity throughout a president's years in office, as the logic of the permanent campaign would suggest.

While much research on political fundraising is based on data from the Federal Election Commission that detail contributions to candidates, political parties, and political action groups, this study examines the other side of the coin—what do presidents do in search of political funds, and how does this relate to other presidential activities? The author systematically analyzes the frequency and geography of presidential fundraising travel from 1977 to 2004 in order to determine which factors are related to where presidents go to raise funds from their supporters, how fundraising travel relates to geographic patterns of other presidential activity, and the evolution of these dynamics over time. The findings indicate that fundraising is a growing part of reelection and party‐building efforts throughout a president's term, and that a president's electoral and financial geographies are distinct, as each results from a different set of incentives.

As a president's time is perhaps his scarcest resource, the strategic choices that determine its allocation are some of the most significant that a president and his aides will make. When and where a president chooses to travel, and what he does while he is there, can reveal a great deal about his priorities. This essay analyzes patterns of both international and domestic travel over the past five presidential administrations in order to provide the incoming president and his aides with information that will assist them as they decide when, where, and for what the next president should travel.

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