President's Schedule: Thursday, April 1

Good morning...

No, it's no April Fool's joke. The president is holding another health care event today, this one in Portland, Maine. Didn't he win? Isn't his health care bill now the law of the land?

Well, yes. But Obama continues to hammer away, trying to sell it to the millions of Americans who remain skeptical. How skeptical? The RealClearPolitics.com average of all recent polls puts Obama's job approval at 48.6%, with 46.3% disapproving. Neither figure has budged much for weeks. Among major polls, CNN/Opinion Research has him up three points in a week - but Gallup says Obama's numbers are exactly where they were a month ago.

Om the way home from Maine, Obama will stop off in soggy Boston for a pair of Democratic fundraisers. And that's it for Thursday.

Looking ahead to Friday, the president travels to Charlotte, NC to talk about jobs and the economy. The big March unemployment report will be released at 8:30, and many analysts think it'll show very good news for the White House: actual job growth. The February rate (U3 rate): 9.7%. But the broader U6 rate, which some analysts say better reflects the true health of the U.S. labor market, is 16.8%.

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The Schedule

EDT

9:30AM THE PRESIDENT receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office

1:20PM THE PRESIDENT departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Portsmouth, New Hampshire

3:25PM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks on health insurance reform
Portland Expo Center

4:55PM THE PRESIDENT departs Portland, Maine en route Boston, Massachusetts
Portland International Jetport

5:40PM THE PRESIDENT arrives in Boston, Massachusetts
Logan Boston International Airport

6:05PM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks at DNC fundraising reception

8:05PM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks at DNC fundraising dinner
Boston Opera House

Briefing Schedule

Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton will gaggle aboard Air Force One

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On This Day

1970 - President Nixon signed the bill that banned cigarette advertisements to be effective on January 1, 1971.

1987 - President Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, "We've declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1."

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Presidential Quote

"The only man who makes no mistake is the man who does nothing." - Theodore Roosevelt