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President Bush to stay overnight in Tucson

08:51 PM MST on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

By Delane Cleveland

It’s been more than 50 years since a sitting President has overnighted in Tucson, when Dwight Eisenhower visited back in 1957. That will change on Thursday, July 17, when Air Force One brings President Bush to town for a political fundraiser and an overnight stay.

 

It will mark only the second time in history that a sitting President has spent the night in Tucson. Because of security concerns, information on where the President will sleep is not available. Fox 11 News took a look at some of the possibilities.

 

On the morning of Friday, July 18, President Bush will go to a home in the foothills to raise money for Congressional candidate Tim Bee. Steve Conklin of the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort says the President won’t be staying there, but if he did, they are prepared to accommodate him in one of their Sunset Suites.

 

“We have four of these on the property,” Conklin says. “It’s about 1,200 square feet.”  It has a dining table, a butler area, a living room, and a view of the pristine desert surroundings. “The environment, that’s what we’re proud of here at J.W. Starr Pass,” says Conklin, “is we were built right in the Tucson Mountains.”

 

The site of Friday’s political fundraiser is near three of Tucson’s top resort destinations, places the President certainly could stay. Each is a far cry from President Eisenhower’s overnight stay at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on January 14, 1957. He stayed in what was called the “guest house.”

 

The first President to ever visit Tucson was Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1880. A first lady overnighted here as well – Eleanor Roosevelt, in 1933.

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