A Holiday Week In a Tough Campaign Summertime presents a challenge for a presidential candidate: how to take advantage of the long, hot weeks before the party conventions kick the campaign into high gear? This Fourth of July holiday week provides an initial peek into the strategies of President Obama and Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee. Mr. Obama will take the first half of the week off and then travel through Ohio and Pennsylvania on a two-day bus tour. Mr. Romney is taking the full week off, except for a brief appearance at a Fourth of July parade near his vacation home in New Hampshire. But not taking a break are the television advertisements from both campaigns, which are continuing to accelerate. Here are the particulars of the candidates" week ahead: OBAMA The president and his family will start the week at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland before returning to the White House for the holiday on Wednesday. Mr. Obama will host members of the military for a Fourth of July picnic on the White House lawn - one of the perks of incumbency. But the relaxation ends on Thursday, when Mr. Obama begins the bus tour through Ohio, with a stop in western Pennsylvania. The presidential trip follows Mr. Romney's recent five-day bus tour, and it highlights Mr. Obama's focus on battleground states like Ohio. It is also intended to get the president out of the formal confines of the West Wing to make a closer connection with the voting public. Mr. Obama has long complained about feeling stifled and disconnected from the public in Washington. The campaign, and especially the bus tour, helps avoid the kind of "Rose Garden isolation" that his campaign fears will feed an impression that he does not understand the economic plight of struggling Americans. Aides said the tour would focus on the economy. One thing to watch for: on Friday, while Mr. Obama is on the road, the government will issue the jobs and unemployment reports for June. The timing will give the president a real-world backdrop when he reacts to the numbers - a better image than the blue curtains of the White House briefing room, where he said last month that the "private sector is doing fine." ROMNEY Every summer, Mr. Romney's extended family gathers at his vacation home on a lake in Wolfeboro, N.H., for a week of competitive sports and private time. They call it the "Romney Olympics," according to The Washington Post. A presidential campaign apparently does not get in the way. Taking this week off is probably good timing. Voters are likely to be paying more attention to their barbecue grills than their television sets as they celebrate the holiday. But the weeklong break also fits in with Mr. Romney's overall campaign strategy of trying to keep the focus on the president's record - not his own. Aides say they believe that voters in November will harshly judge Mr. Obama's handling of the economy over the last three and a half years. Staying off the campaign trail, except for the brief appearance at the parade in Wolfeboro, will ensure that Mr. Romney will not say or do anything that might get in the way of that message. One curious question is how Mr. Romney plans to respond to the jobs report on Friday. It would seem an odd choice for him to comment on the news with his six-bedroom home on 13 acres as a backdrop. Mr. Romney could change his plans and travel to a small business or another location. The campaign has not said what its plans are for Friday.