Bush plans fund-raiser in Greenville

President Bush will come to South Carolina this fall to raise money for his 2004 re-election campaign.

The $2,000-a-person Republican event is expected to bring in nearly $800,000 for Bush-Cheney 2004.

A date and other details have not been set, but the fund-raiser will take place at the Palmetto Exposition Center in Greenville.

S.C. House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, was in Washington this week to discuss the fund-raiser with campaign officials.

"We're excited," said Wilkins, who led the Bush-Cheney campaign in South Carolina in 2000.

"The Bush family has a great love for South Carolina, and South Carolina has a great love for them."

Vice President Dick Cheney was in Columbia on Monday to address a fund-raising lunch at the home of Gayle Averyt, former chief executive officer of Colonial Life Insurance Company. The event raised $300,000 for the president's re-election campaign.

First lady Laura Bush will be the guest of honor at a Bush-Cheney fund-raiser in October at the Florence home of Kate and Eddie Floyd, former chairman of the University of South Carolina board of trustees.

In 2000, the Bush campaign raised more than $1.2 million in South Carolina.

Neither the White House nor the Bush-Cheney campaign would comment on the Greenville fund-raiser.

Both Bush and Cheney have been to South Carolina several times since the 2000 campaign.

Cheney was in Columbia on June 14, 2002, to raise money for the party and for then-U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, who was running, successfully as it turned out, for the U.S. Senate seat held for 48 years by Strom Thurmond.

The vice president also led a Washington delegation to Columbia on July 1 for Thurmond's funeral. He also attended the funeral of U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence of Lexington in 2001 and delivered the main eulogy.

Bush visited the state three times in 2002 to campaign for Graham and Gov. Mark Sanford. He also delivered the May commencement address at USC.

To date, Bush-Cheney has raised more than $35.1 million for the 2004 presidential campaign, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Sponsors of the Greenville event are Wilkins and his wife, Susan; the Floyds; Anne and John Rainey, chairman of the state Board of Economic Advisors; and former state GOP chairman Barry Wynn of Spartanburg.

Reach Bandy at (803) 771-8648 or lbandy@thestate.com.