The $2,000-a-person Republican event, which will be held at the Palmetto Exposition Center in Greenville, is expected to bring in nearly $800,000 for Bush-Cheney 2004.

A date and other details have not been set. Neither the White House nor the Bush-Cheney campaign would comment.

South Carolina House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, went to Washington this week to discuss the details of 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 spoke in Columbia on Monday at a fund-raising lunch, which raised $300,000 for the president's re-election campaign.

First lady Laura Bush will attend another 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.

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.

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

Cheney was in Columbia in June 2002 to raise money for the party and for then-U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, who ran a successful campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Strom Thurmond.

The vice president traveled 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 the University of South Carolina.

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