By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - President Bush will stop by "Ohio's Oldest Inn" next week during a four-state bus tour.

Details are still being ironed out, but local officials say Bush is expected to speak to a crowd of 1,500 ticket-holders at the Golden Lamb Inn between 1:30 and 3 p.m. Tuesday after a visit to the Toledo area.

After his Golden Lamb appearance, Bush will head south to Cincinnati, including a stop at Cincinnati Gardens, according to Warren County Commissioner Pat South, who is helping to organize the Lebanon event.

Bush will be the 12th U.S. president to visit the Golden Lamb. Ten U.S. presidents have stayed there, the last being Warren G. Harding in 1914. President Reagan also visited the inn before he was elected, according to Golden Lamb manager Paul Resetar.

"We do expect the president will be speaking from the (Golden Lamb) balcony," South said Tuesday. "It will be somewhat of a street-fair atmosphere with the downtown blocked off."

White House and Bush campaign officials declined to give details of the visit Tuesday.

The inn already has political ties. The family of U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, owned the building for years, converting it from a run-down hotel to a nationally known place to stay and eat.

Bush's May 4 visit will not be a fund-raising effort like the his last visit to Cincinnati. That September visit with the local Republican elite at the Indian Hill estate of Carl Lindner III raised $1.7 million for Bush's re-election campaign.

Lebanon will be one of several stops Bush makes during a bus tour that kicks off Monday and goes through Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan. In the last month, Bush has traveled to several states discussing, among other topics, the economy, the war on terrorism and the environment.

His visit comes on the heels of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's April 6 visit to Ohio, which is considered a key state in the campaign. The latest Ohio Poll has Bush and Kerry tied.

"There's already a lot of enthusiasm building," according to Mike Schueler, the Bush-Cheney campaign chairman for Republican-dominated Warren County. "I think he will get a tremendous warm welcome here."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com