Bush visits Utah: Public has little contact with president during fundraising trip

Except for the few hundred people who paid the hefty price tag to attend private fundraisers for John McCain's White House bid, the only glimpse most Utahns got of President Bush on Wednesday was through the tinted windows of his limousine as it sped by.

Those contributors, however, not only got to meet the president, but were expected to add millions of dollars to the campaign coffers of McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The two fundraisers cost a minimum of $500 for an afternoon reception in the Avenues and $70,100 per couple for a reception at McCain-rival-turned-supporter Mitt Romney's vacation home in Deer Valley.

The president's Utah visit will end this morning, with his expected departure just before 10 a.m. He is scheduled to meet with the First Presidency of the LDS Church prior to leaving.

The First Presidency did not greet Bush on his arrival but did take a tour of Air Force One later Wednesday. Such tours are often given to select people when the president stays overnight somewhere.

Wednesday in Deer Valley, the reception at Romney's home was so private that not even the presidential press pool was permitted on the property. Instead, they were left at the home of John Miller, a longtime friend and neighbor of Romney and one of his top fundraisers.

Neither the organizers of the events nor McCain's campaign announced the amount raised in Utah Wednesday.

The president's first stop was at an afternoon reception for approximately 300 guests held at the Avenues home of Sam Stewart, founder of a local financial firm. Bush's appearance was preceded by a $10,000 per person luncheon with Romney and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a longtime supporter of McCain.

Among the guests were former Utah governor and current Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt; Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah; Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert; and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, another early McCain supporter.

Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, said the president's speech at the Avenues fundraiser "was incredible." In an outside tent overlooking City Creek Canyon and the state Capitol, Bush reminisced about his two terms in office and described why McCain should succeed him.

"I've heard him speak a number of times, and this was the most powerful, intimate speech I've heard him give. Absolutely," Jowers told the Deseret News after the event.