By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - President Bush returns Sept. 30 to Cincinnati for a $2,000-a-person fund-raiser at the Indian Hill home of Carl Lindner III.

This will be the president's first trip to Cincinnati since his October 2002 speech making the case that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and the world.

Hosting the event along with Lindner III will be his father Carl Lindner, owner of the Reds and a longtime donor to the GOP; Mercer Reynolds of Indian Hill; downtown investor Bill DeWitt, Cintas founder Richard Farmer, and Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

Carl Lindner has raised more than $200,000 for the 2004 Bush campaign.

While the day's schedule hasn't been finalized, the president has no public events in Greater Cincinnati that day.

An analysis of campaign donations show that the 45243 ZIP code, covering Indian Hill and Madeira, has provided more money to Bush's re-election than all but one other ZIP code in the nation, New York City's Upper East Side.

This will be Bush's 12th visit to Ohio, a state Bush won in 2000 and a swing state in the 2004 elections. His last visit was outside Cleveland.

September is a big fund-raising month for the president. He has had fund-raisers in Indianapolis; Nashville, Tenn.; Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale Fla. Along with the Indian Hill appearance, others are planned for Philadelphia and Chicago, White House spokesman Scott McLellan said.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com