By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FLORENCE - Vice President Dick Cheney came to Northern Kentucky Friday to raise money for Sen. Jim Bunning and go on the political offensive against Sen. John Kerry.

In less than two hours, Cheney and his wife, Lynne, helped Bunning collect about $250,000 from the estimated 350 people who attended the campaign fund-raiser at the Cincinnati Airport Hilton in Florence.

Bunning, a Southgate Republican, is seeking a second term in the Senate this year. He has raised more than $4 million for his campaign. Friday's event was the largest fund-raiser Bunning has ever held in his native Northern Kentucky.

Bunning's voice cracked with emotion as he introduced his wife, Mary, and thanked the crowd for its support.

"Jim does a superb job," Cheney said. "And this November I am confident the people of Kentucky are going to send him back for a second term.

"I might add, I'm all in favor of second terms," Cheney said to loud applause and laughter.

But Cheney used much of his 20-minute speech attacking Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, even lumping him in with former President Clinton. The speech was a clear indication that the Bush re-election team is ready to go after Kerry and his 20-year record in the Senate.

Without mentioning him by name, Cheney indirectly blamed Clinton for the 9-11 terrorist attacks because his administration was not tougher in dealing with rogue nations and cracking down on terrorism. By contrast, Cheney said the Bush administration has sought to more aggressively snuff out terrorist organizations.

"We're now entering into a great national debate about how best to deal with the dangers we face," Cheney said. "On one side we have the Democratic nominee who is uncomfortable with the idea that we are at war.

"Sen. Kerry has said that we should treat attacks on our nation primarily as matters of law enforcement and intelligence," Cheney said. "He's embraced the strategy of the 1990s, which holds that when we are attacked we ought to round up those directly responsible, put them on trial and then call it a day.

"But it's not enough," he said. "It leaves the network behind the attacks virtually untouched.

"A year ago Saddam Hussein controlled the lives and future of nearly 25 million people," Cheney said of the former Iraqi dictator. "Tonight, he sits in jail."

Cheney said Bush is a far stronger leader than Kerry.

"These are not times for leaders who shift with the political winds, saying one thing one day and another the next," Cheney said. "We need a commander-in-chief of clear vision and steady determination and that's exactly what we have in President Bush."

Bunning said he was glad to hear Cheney go after Kerry.

"I think that's going to be regular, standard procedure now," Bunning said. "There is an opponent where you can compare one record to the other."

Cheney "needs to set forth Kerry's record because people need to know that's not who they want to be president of the United States," said Wilder Republican Mark Hayden, a lawyer running in Kentucky's 67th House District in Campbell County.

Cheney also touted the Bush administration's record on the economy, including tax cuts he said have boosted the economy.

"The American people are using their money better than the government would have," Cheney said. "Congress was correct to let them keep it."

But in places where job losses have been high, including the battleground state of Ohio, Democrats see Bush's record on the economy as a vulnerability.

State Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, a Hazard Democrat running for Bunning's seat, criticized how the Bush administration has handled the economy. He said Kentucky has lost more than 34,000 manufacturing jobs over the last four years and has an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent, the highest in a decade.

"Whether it's policies that have given us the worst deficit in U.S history, unfair trade agreements that sent Kentucky jobs overseas or legislation to slash overtime pay. ... Jim Bunning has put Kentucky workers in harm's way," he said.

Cheney also attracted a protest from the Sierra Club. Members of the environmental group gathered at a nearby parking lot to protest administration energy and environmental policies.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com