Obama on West Coast -- fundraising, but no Kimmel

President Obama landed in Seattle Tuesday for the start of a three-day West Coast trip devoted mainly to fundraising. But an appearance with late night television's Jimmy Kimmel was deemed inappropriate.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that there had been talk about Obama appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live while in Los Angeles Thursday.

"We had been in touch with representatives of Mr. Kimmel's show about the possibility of participating -- about having the president participate in that program on this trip. We ultimately elected not to," Earnest said at a press briefing Tuesday. "And that is at least in part related to the challenges of doing a comedy show in the midst of some of these other, more serious matters that the president's dealing with in the international scene."

It wasn't a scheduling issue. Earnest said Obama has been able to maintain his schedule of fundraising by consulting advisers and working the phones with world leaders from Air Force One.

Obama and Kimmel last met at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2012, when Kimmel was the featured entertainer and lobbed zingers like, "Remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious."

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