As he prepared to assume the presidential powers temporarily, Vice President Dick Cheney warned anew on Friday that the United States could make a pre-emptive strike at some point against a threatening foe.
"We must take the battle to the enemy and where necessary pre-empt grave threats to our country before they materialize," Cheney told several hundred people in Charlotte, N.C.
"The only path to safety is the path of action. The United States of America will act, and we will defeat the enemies of freedom," he said.
President Bush will transfer power briefly to Cheney on Saturday when the president undergoes a colon check at Camp David. Cheney did not mention that in a series of appearances in Raleigh and Charlotte on Friday.
"It's part of the job," said Cheney spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise. Cheney planned a round of national security briefings but no public appearances Saturday, she said.
Cheney kept a business-as-usual demeanor all day as he brought in at least $250,000 for the North Carolina GOP and Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole.
Cheney also visited Sen. Jesse Helms, the man Dole hopes to replace in Washington, at the rehabilitation center where he is recovering from heart surgery.
Dole faces six Republican opponents in a primary that a redistricting battle has postponed indefinitely. Cheney, the headliner at a lunch that drew 200 donors who gave between $500 and $2,000, lavished praise on his colleague from the first Bush administration Cabinet.
"There are consistent themes in Mrs. Dole's record as a public official and humanitarian, and those themes are competence, character, intelligence and solid results," Cheney said.
Cheney, whose office also makes him president of the Senate, said, "With your help, next January I'll call the Senate into session and welcome Senator Dole as a member of the new Republican majority."
Top donors and those who have rounded up big contributions for the candidate got special access to the man some consider the most powerful vice president in history. Dole campaign aides would provide no specifics, but high-end contributors were treated to a private session with the vice president; others had their pictures taken with him.
The vice president and Dole entered the hall together just after a pledge of allegiance that organizers said had special meaning after this week's appeals court ruling in California that called it unconstitutional. Many contributors raised their voices to emphasize the words "under God," which the court had cited in its ruling, and Dole called the court's decision — now stayed — disgraceful.
Cheney used the ruling to renew a demand for quicker Senate approval of Bush's judicial nominees. "If you ask me, given the decision this week on the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ninth Circuit could use some new judges," Cheney said. Bush has sent 102 nominees to the Senate, including three for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate has confirmed 57 judges so far, none for the Ninth Circuit.
Before his private 20-minute visit with Helms, with whom he has had a long friendship, Cheney paid tribute in his fund-raising speech to the retiring 80-year-old senator, who had an operation April 25 to replace a worn-out pig valve installed in his heart 10 years ago.
Helms spokesman Jimmy Broughton said Cheney visited the rehabilitation center in Raleigh, N.C., where Helms is staying. "He had a nice visitor this afternoon," Broughton said.
He said Helms' therapy begins at 8:30 a.m. and continues into the afternoon most days, so Cheney's visit was a nice break.
"He has dedicated his full energies to serving the people of this state and country," Cheney said afterward. "We're all very proud of him, and we're so pleased he's on the road to recovery."
"We also face the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and here the old doctrines of security do not apply," he said. The lone nation he singled out was Iraq, where he said President Saddam Hussein is "clearly pursuing these deadly capabilities."
Cheney plans around 60 political and fund-raising appearances this year, and he and President Bush have brought in more than $100 million for Republicans this year. Bush raised $500,000 Friday for Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md.
Friday brought Cheney's number of political appearances so far to 33, and it was a heavy day of politicking.
After raising money for Dole, Cheney headed to Charlotte, N.C., for a fund-raising photo session for Rep. Robin Hayes, whose re-election bid was complicated by a redistricting plan that added to his district more than 100,000 voters, many of them Democrats.
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