By Howard Wilkinson
Enquirer staff writer

After a week of presidential politics, long business meetings, and plenty of Cincinnati sightseeing, thousands of delegates to the 105th Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention packed their bags and journeyed home.

They left hotel managers, restaurant owners and downtown retail store managers smiling, because the nearly 15,000 men of the VFW and women of the Ladies Auxiliary left behind nearly $20 million.

"I had a wonderful time in Cincinnati,'' said Jackie Scott of Billings, Mont., a Ladies Auxiliary member who was flying back home on a Friday night red-eye. "It's a beautiful town and everybody was so friendly. People would stop us on the street and say, 'Welcome.' ''

It was an eventful week for the delegates, who represented an organization that is 2.6 million strong.

The fact that this year's annual convention was held in the middle of a presidential campaign made it even more so. President Bush addressed the delegates at their first business session Monday, followed by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry - a member of the VFW - on Wednesday morning.

"We had an opportunity here in Cincinnati that not many people have,'' said John Furgess, the Vietnam veteran from Nashville, Tenn., who was installed Friday morning as the 87th national commander in chief of the VFW. "We got to see both major party candidates in the flesh and hear what they had to say. It says something about the importance of the veterans' vote.''

Many of the delegates who filled the downtown had already left town by Friday morning's final business session. Exhibit Hall B of the Cincinnati Convention Center was about one-third full for Furgess' intallation ceremony.

Furgess told the delegates one of their top priorities for next year should be to continue supporting VFW programs to assist the families of active-duty military serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, Furgess said, local post commanders need to seek out returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and get them to join the VFW.

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Email hwilkinson@enquirer.com