The road well-traveled

According to the Washington Post, Montana was the 48th state Obama has visited. The final two holdouts are South Dakota and Alaska. South Dakota is sure to get its moment in the Obama strobe, since its primary is on June 3rd (the last of all the states, along with Montana).

Alaska is more problematic. Polprint attempted to go there last summer, but was turned away when she was unable to produce a passport. She eventually made it; apparently if your plane stops in Canada, passports are necessary.

Alaska was the bane of Richard Nixon, too. When contesting Kennedy in 1960, Nixon vowed to campaign in all 50 states. A few days before the general election, he was forced to fly to Alaska--wasting valuable hours, of course--to remain a man of his word. This is recounted in Theodore White's The Making of the President 1960.

Current candidates seem unlikely to make similar promises. That said, being able to claim that one had campaigned in all 50 states would provide a certain cache.