But other trips replace lengthy resort stays with a quick jaunt in a car or plane to deliver a speech, get the facts straight, and get out of there.

In fact, more than 500 of 4,852 total trips taken by Congress from January 2000 through June 2004 involved a lawmaker heading out in the morning for a television appearance, speech or conference and returning the same day. Most trips involved longer travel, accounting for the bulk of the $14.5 million spent by private companies and organizations on congressional travel over the four-year period, according to an analysis by Medill News Service in partnership with American Public Media's Marketplace program and American RadioWorks.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., led all members in day trips. Twenty-three of his trips - nearly two-thirds of his total travel sponsored by outside parties -- involved no overnight stay.

Eighteen of Lieberman's one-day trips were appearances on television news programs. The other five were speaking engagements.

"I have trouble using the word 'trip' to describe it," spokeswoman Casey Aden-Wansbury said of his TV appearances. The extent of the network or station's "sponsorship," she said, was sending a car to ensure the senator arrived at the studio on time.

"They drive over to Georgetown, pick him up, drive him downtown and bring him back," she said, noting the service generally costs between $50 and $150.

It is a professional courtesy that shows offer most guests, congressional or otherwise, said Aden-Wansbury, who added that the Lieberman would have taken many more such trips had he not been assigned a driver by the Capitol Police following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Lieberman "makes decisions about travel and speaking engagements on a case-by-case basis, usually based on some combination of his committee assignments, interest or involvement in the issue … and his scheduling ability," she said,

With television appearances especially, he has to be flexible.

"Sometimes they call you up and say, 'In two hours, can he be on the show?' " she said. "Sometimes it's a week ahead. Honestly, it's based on the news."

The transportation services offered by news programs and other sponsors are something that the Lieberman's scheduler takes into account, but, she added, "Certainly it has no bearing on whether Lieberman would accept an interview."

It's not that the Lieberman doesn't like international travel, she added. He and other high-ranking committee members go on necessary international trips sponsored by Congress, thus do not need to rely on an invitation by a third party.

Day trips were more common in the Senate, where they accounted for 22 percent of all travel. In the House, they made up less than 9 percent.

Other Senate leaders who reported one-day travel included Joseph Biden, D-Del., with 21, and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., with 16 - 75 percent of her trips were there and back in a day. The House was led by Harold Ford, Jr., D-Tenn., with 14;.Maxine Waters, D-Calif., 11; and Bob Barr, R-Ga., with 10. Barr no longer is in Congress.

Critics argue that privately sponsored travel gives special interests unfair access to members of Congress who might be involved in writing legislation that could in some way benefit the hosts.

While a limo ride downtown doesn't seem to provide the same amount of access as, say, an overseas flight, a quick trip is not always a cheap trip.

In April 2001, the University of North Carolina hired a private jet to ferry Rep. Tom Osborne, a former football coach at Nebraska, to Chapel Hill to speak at an early afternoon sports seminar, and then to Washington that evening. The cost: $11,000.

"It was the only way I could do it and maintain my voting schedule in Congress, as I recall," Osborne said. "It would have been a lot easier for me to say, 'No I don't want to go.' It wasn't like I was looking to go down there to make a speech. It wasn't any recreational opportunity to me. It was simply to honor a commitment I made to [former UNC basketball coach] Dean Smith and [UNC Chancellor] James Moeser. It would have been easier for me to just say forget it, but they said they'd bring a plane."

"It wasn't like I went to the Bahamas or something," he added. "I went down there and went back. I was there for two or three hours and participated in the seminar."

Between January 2000 and June 2004, seven other one-day trips broke the $5,000 mark. Forty-eight one-day trips cost more than $2,000, and the average cost of a one-day trip in the Senate was more than $1,000. In the House, it was less than $800.

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