Bush Collects Cash in N.Y.

President Bush raised $4 million Monday during a quick visit to New York, which will play host to the Republican National Convention next summer.

“I look forward to having the Republican convention right here in this great city,” Bush told cheering supporters at a mid-Manhattan hotel. “Four more years!”

In a city still recovering from the Sept. 11 attacks, the president’s remarks about the war on terrorism drew the greatest applause.

“Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is what they got,” Bush said. “We have captured or killed many key leaders of Al Qaeda, and the rest of them know we are hot on their trail. In Afghanistan and Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose defiance, and those regimes are no more.”

About 1,000 people, including New York’s Republican leaders -- Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani -- attended the reception.

After meeting with Bush, Bloomberg left early to throw out the first ball at the opening game of Brooklyn’s minor league baseball team.

“I know something about throwing out pitches,” Bush quipped after the mayor left. “I would suggest he goes to the fastball, not his slider.”

The president’s stop in Manhattan was part of a fund-raising effort to collect at least $20 million by the end of June.

Bush is scheduled to attend fund-raisers on Friday in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The overall aim is to solicit $175 million or more for use between now and the president’s expected nomination in September 2004.

Political advisors have chosen to cluster most of Bush’s fund-raising activities in a brief period. Part of the strategy is to delay as long as possible the official start of his bid for a second term.

“The political season will come in its own time,” Bush told supporters at the rally. “There will be plenty of time for politics. Right now, I am focused on the people’s business in Washington.”

Outside the Sheraton New York, demonstrators protesting the president’s policies were kept behind police barricades. Signs criticized the war in Iraq, called for Bush’s impeachment and -- in a topic dear to New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments -- urged “Stronger Rent Laws Now.”

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Times staff writer Edwin Chen contributed to this report.