10:16 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 28, 2006

By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD, Associated Press Writer

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Watch the President's speech

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CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) -- President Bush raised big campaign donations -- and big protests -- Wednesday during his visit to St. Louis.

Bush spoke at a fundraising dinner Wednesday night at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Clayton, drumming up donations for Republican Sen. Jim Talent, who is expected to face State Auditor Claire McCaskill in a close Senate race in November.

Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer said the dinner raised about $1 million for Talent's campaign. Talent has nearly $5.7 million in the bank, compared with about $2 million for McCaskill, as of the candidates' most recent campaign finance reports filed in April.

About 200 people protested outside the fundraiser, focusing on issues such as the minimum wage and war in Iraq.

The minimum wage hasn't been raised from its current level of $5.15 an hour since 1997, and the Senate rejected an effort this month to make it any higher.

"You can't put two gallons of gas in your car for $5.15 an hour. It makes it kind of hard to get to your job, let alone pay bills," said Wendy Henley, 52, of Clarksville.

Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer said Talent supports raising the minimum wage, but only if such a change comes with tax cuts for small businesses to offset higher labor costs.

While signs decrying the minimum wage were prevalent, many others denounced the war -- and the president.

"I support the troops. I want them to come home," said Teresa McGee, 56, of Belleville, Ill. "We're in a war where we can't accomplish anything except getting our troops maimed and killed."

Bush fiercely defended the war during his speech, raising his voice and telling the crowd that the country needed more senators like Jim Talent who understood the need to remove dictators like Saddam Hussein.

"There is a group in the opposition party who are willing to retreat before the mission is done," Bush said.

Bush also condemned recent media reports about a formerly secret government program that monitors financial transactions. The program was disclosed last week by The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

"It's hard enough to fight terrorists. We shouldn't have to worry about news organizations revealing important information," Bush said, drawing a standing ovation.

Before attending the dinner, Bush visited military personnel who recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. He also presented the President's Volunteer Service Award to Susan Reese, a volunteer at St. Patrick Center, which serves homeless people in downtown St. Louis.

While the fundraiser took place, McCaskill was appearing as a guest on MSNBC's national political talk show "Hardball" with Chris Matthews.

The race between McCaskill and Talent is expected to be close and could affect efforts of the Democratic Party to take back control of the Senate.

In a poll conducted for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV and released Sunday, McCaskill was favored by 49 percent, compared with 43 percent for Talent. The margin of error was 3.5 percent in the telephone poll of 800 likely voters conducted last week by Maryland-based Research 2000.

Talent's campaign pointed to a Wall Street Journal poll last week that showed Talent leading McCaskill by 5 percentage points with a similar margin of error. Both polls were within the margin of error.

As he stepped off Air Force One at Lambert Airport, Bush met with Andrew Benecke, 18, who was valedictorian of Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School and was one of the 2006 Presidential Scholars.

Benecke has undergone 36 rounds of chemotherapy in a four-year battle against bone cancer and could not attend a White House ceremony Monday with other Presidential Scholars, so Bush presented the award to him personally.

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On the Net:

Claire McCaskill for U.S. Senate: http://www.claireonline.com/

Jim Talent for U.S. Senate: http://www.talentforsenate.com/

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)