Obama watch: Texas and Florida

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 3:14 p.m. CDT

It's Spring Break, of sorts, in Washington and with the Senate and the House in recess, members of Congress have hit the road for the second week in a row.

While most Americans might spend money during their vacations, politicians typically raise it. And Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is doing just that.

The destination: Texas and Florida.

The beneficiary: Hopefund, his political action committee, as well as Democratic candidates.

This afternoon, Obama begins his three-day tour in Austin, Texas, where two Hopefund events are on the schedule. On Wednesday, he has a Hopefund breakfast in Houston before flying to Orlando for another Hopefund event.

On Thursday, he heads to Ft. Lauderdale, where he is the guest speaker at a Congressional fundraiser for Ron Klein, a state senator who is trying to unseat Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.). (When the Klein campaign announced Obama would be dropping by, the Shaw team announced President Bush would be coming to Florida for him in early May.)

Finally, before heading back to Chicago, Obama is headlining a joint fundraising event for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and the Democratic Senator Campaign Committee.

In case you're keeping track, this is Obama's second trip to Florida in less than a month. On March 31, he spoke to the sales force at a Random House, Inc., publishing conference in Ft. Myers, where he was pitching his forthcoming book.

No word on whether the final manuscript is finished, but it is still scheduled to be published in October, just as Democrats enter the final stretch of the midterm election campaign.