Obama vacations in 'Republican stronghold'

BAR HARBOR, Maine, July 16 (UPI) -- Locals in President Barack Obama's vacation destination of Maine's Mount Desert Island said they were surprised he chose the traditionally Republican area.

Mary Miller, owner of the White Ginger clothing store in Northeast Harbor on the island, said there has been a lot of "buzz" about the Obama family's upcoming 3-day visit, which begins Friday, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

"It's the Republican stronghold of the Northeast," Miller said of the island.

However, local businesses expressed excitement at the visit, which is beginning exactly 100 years since the last visit by a sitting commander in chief, President William Howard Taft.

"We'll have the Obama Burger and a Presidential Salad on the menu this weekend," said Mark Reece, owner of the restaurant The Colonel's.

The Obamas are staying at the Regency, a Holiday Inn resort in Bar Harbor owned by Democratic fundraiser Thomas Walsh.