Did You Know...

...Bush has visited every state in the country except for Vermont?

Maybe President Bush doesn't like Birkenstocks, or antiquing, or socialists. It could simply be that the health-conscious president just doesn't dig Ben & Jerry's high-fat ice cream.

Whatever the reason, Mr. Bush has not visited the state of Vermont. He has been to 49 other states and stopped off in more than 60 countries, including Albania, Uganda, Qatar — even Mongolia — but still no trip to Vermont.

"Vermont is the opposite of George W. Bush: It's granola, it's crunchy, it's liberal, and it's socialist," said former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who attended Middlebury College in Vermont and still vacations there.

And Mr. Fleischer knows firsthand what the president faces: When he went back to his alma mater — a school of about 2,000 students — to receive an award, "about 1,000 protesters showed up." No place is safe in the state, Mr. Fleischer said: "Even the tallest mountain peak, they'll backpack their way up there to protest the president."

Mr. Fleischer predicted that Mr. Bush, now on vacation in sweltering Crawford, Texas, will go because it will be "healthy to hit all 50 states."

"But he sure saved a doozy for last," he said with a laugh.

I'm guessing the guy will sneak in on a Friday night for a fundraiser at a private estate in the last month of his term just so he can say "I visited all 50 states".