Obama not visiting, but Laura Bush is

President Barack Obama has canceled a trip to Montana and will not be in Whitefish later this week, Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said Tuesday.

The White House Press Office confirmed that the president won’t be in the Flathead Valley from July 8-10, and it’s not on his schedule.

Another national dignitary, however, is planning a trip to the Flathead Valley this month.

Local authorities are working with the U.S. Secret Service in connection with former first lady Laura Bush’s planned trip to the Flathead Valley on July 15.

Bush is coming for a Glacier Fund fundraiser at 3 p.m. Friday, July 15, at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park, according to Glacier Fund Executive Director Jane Ratzlaff.

More details about the First Lady’s visit and the fundraiser will be forthcoming, she said.

Dial said President Obama’s trip to Whitefish had been scheduled and arrangements had been in the works for several weeks before the trip was canceled late last week. Obama reportedly was to have stayed at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake, though lodge officials said they could neither confirm nor deny the president’s stay.

The local rumor mill was churning earlier this week, indicating the president was coming either for a vacation or for a fundraiser for Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

Aaron Murphy, a spokesman for Tester, said there never were any plans for Obama to travel here for a fundraising event. Tester is meeting with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki on Thursday and Friday before heading back to his farm in Montana.

Obama’s canceled trip prompted a group of conservatives to cancel their plans to stage a protest during the president’s visit to Whitefish.

State Rep. Derek Skees, R-Whitefish, said a group of about 30 to 40 people had organized a grassroots event, with volunteers supplying a truck and trailer, sound system and entertainment.

“People mistakenly think that Whitefish is safe ground for liberalism, and we wanted to make sure the president knows he can’t come to our little town and expect there not to be a dissenting voice. A lot of us are upset with Obama’s policies,” Skees said. “We’re calling this a dry run. Now we know how to mobilize.”

He added that grassroots protests against Democratic candidates likely will surface in upcoming key elections, such as the challenge by U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg to win Tester’s Senate seat.

“We want to do everything we can to get a conservative in Tester’s seat,” he said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.