cbs8 las vegas
LAS VEGAS - Metro Police and United States Secret Service converged for hours on the Element by Westin Hotel in Summerlin Wednesday evening to prepare for a distinguished guest: President Barack Obama.
After security sweeps and road closures, the presidential motorcade made its way to its final destination of the night.
Onlookers were curious as to why President Obama chose to stay farther away from the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip.
"This Element is earth friendly, and I think he's trying to promote that on his visit," Carol Bieganowski said.
Energy will be a major theme on this presidential trip. President Obama is on a three-day tour of five battleground states. Nevada, a toss-up state, could determine whether he gets a second term in the White House.
Aside from tight security, his arrival in Summerlin had little fanfare. Only a few families who wanted to see a presidential motorcade in person chose to greet the president
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OK, now here's the part you have to ignore if you live in Obamaville. A few facts about our eco-friendly president's trip to Vegas:
Fight distance: Washington D.C. to Las Vegas McCarran Airport= 2086 miles
Boeing says their 747s use 5 gallon of jet fuel per mile of flight
= 10K gallons of jet fuel used by Air Force One flying from D.C. to Las Vegas plus another 10K on the way back, plus 2 dozen cars in his presidential motorcade just to give a campaign speech in an attempt to win a battleground state in 2012.
But he stayed in an eco-friendly hotel last night.
What a president
.