President Obama on Monday kicks off a three day bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, an official government trip the Republican National Committee is attacking as thinly disguised taxpayer paid campaigning. The Iowa stops come as GOP 2012 presidential campaigning intensifies in Iowa, the home of the first Republican caucus, with the Ames straw poll taking place last Saturday.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton hold a press conference Monday morning in Cannon Falls, MN to hammer home their point.

Obama holds town halls in Alpha and Atkinson, Ill. on Wednesday. Illinois is not seen as a battleground state in 2012; Minnesota and Iowa may be up for grabs.

The RNC will run radio ads in the three states attacking Obama mainly on jobs and the economy. LISTEN TO THE ILLINOIS AD HERE.