The Tricky Politics of Campaign Vacations — PICTURES

By Brian Resnick

Updated: August 2, 2012 | 8:33 a.m.
August 2, 2012 | 8:00 a.m.

Campaigning for the presidency is exhausting work. Candidates are constantly on the move, making appearances, energizing crowds, and strategizing with their teams. And all the while they have to remain composed and camera-ready. They deserve some time off, right? But the decision of where to relax is fraught with political consequences; opponents can use too-ritzy locales or odd hobbies against their rivals. Case in point: Sen. John Kerry windsurfing while on vacation during the 2008 campaign.

Here's a look at where presidential candidates past and present have vacationed.

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Former Democractic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry windsurfs off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., in August 2004. The Bush campaign used footage from the vacation in an attack ad (see next slide). (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

Kerry rides the chairlift during the first day of his vacation at Sun Valley in Ketchum, Idaho, in March 2004. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and wife Ann Jet Ski on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, N.H., where they have a vacation home, on July 2. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The Obamas have regularly vacationed in Martha's Vineyard. However, this summer the first family will not be vacationing on the tony island. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore pushes his grandson, Wyatt, as he walks along the beach with his family on Figure Eight Island, N.C., while on vacation in July 2000. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

President Clinton and daughter Chelsea go for a horseback ride at the J.Y. Ranch outside Jackson, Wyo., in August 1995. Clinton had canceled plans to vacation in Martha's Vineyard on the advice of a pollster. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole gets into his car outside the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he was vacationing in August 1996. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

George H.W. Bush fields a question during a news conference in front of his Kennebunkport, Maine, vacation home in May 1988. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)

Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy sails with Jaqueline Kennedy while on vacation in Hyannis Port, Mass., in August 1960. (AP Photo)

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