So, who pays for Candidate Obama and Candidate Bidens campaign travel?

President Obama disembarks from Air Force One at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C. on Dec. 6, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

(CNSNews.com) – As Air Force One headed to California Wednesday it carried not just the incumbent president, but also a presidential candidate.

Barack Obama headed for the West Coast for a town hall meeting at Facebook’s corporate headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as three Democratic fundraising events, two in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles.
On Thursday, the president plans to take part in another town hall meeting in Reno, Nevada.

So, who pays for the travel?

In line with generally accepted policies in place since the Reagan administration, based on legal opinions from the Department of Justice and Federal Elections Commission (FEC), taxpayers should cover the cost of the Facebook portion of the trip, while travel relating to the campaign will be reimbursed.

According to the FEC, when a presidential or vice presidential candidate travels on the taxpayer’s dime for political purposes, they “pay the pro rata share of the fair market value of non-commercial flights.”

snip

The travel Web site Expedia.com indicates that a first-class, one-way ticket from Reagan National Airport to San Francisco on a Wednesday in April costs around $670 on U.S. Airways, $1,050 on Delta, or $1,280 on American Airlines and United.
According to an NTU analysis of Air Force data, the operation costs of Air Force One alone are about $182,000 per hour.