Despite Image, Cheney a GOP Rock Star [View All]

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Despite Image, Cheney a GOP Rock Star
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Aug 5, 4:28 PM (ET)

By NANCY BENAC

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - An anticipatory buzz fills the room. Six crisp American flags, erect as soldiers, line the dais. More than an hour before the vice president's arrival, the GOP faithful stand at the ready.

Never mind that Dick Cheney is favorably regarded by only about a third of Americans. To this crowd, in this place, he is a rock star.

And Gus Bilirakis, a state legislator bidding to succeed his father in Congress, is happy to bask in the vice president's glow, pocketing $200,000 in campaign contributions from Cheney's two-hour visit to town late last month.

"He's a dynamic leader," Tampa attorney Monica Lothrop gushes after Cheney's standard, hang-tough-against-terror speech. "It was just a thrill to be able to see him in person."


Vice President Dick Cheney, left, shakes the hand of a sailor after speaking aboard the USS Wasp at the Norfolk Naval Station, in Norfolk, Va., in this July 7, 2006 file photo. Five and half years into the Bush presidency, Cheney's image may have taken a beating overall but he still generates money and enthusiasm for the GOP faithful. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Four days earlier, the scenario was the same in Iowa, where Cheney raised campaign cash for two Republican congressional candidates. Ditto three days later in Alabama and Arkansas, where Cheney was raising money for two gubernatorial candidates.

Five and half years into the Bush presidency, Cheney's image may have taken a beating overall but "he's still Elvis to a lot of the conservatives," says Marshall Wittmann, a Democratic Leadership Council analyst. "When he comes in, money and enthusiasm flow."

Cheney, always a stalwart campaigner for the party, is outpacing his schedule from the 2002 midterm elections. He has logged 80 fundraisers so far this election cycle, bringing in more than $24 million, with the heaviest campaign travel still to come. By comparison, he logged 106 fundraisers for all of 2001-2002.

Democrats hope the strategy backfires, and they're working harder to use Cheney's visits against the Republicans.