It was the very same remote field as six months ago. But this time around, the sun was shining. There were no standing puddles of mud and water; instead the grass was baked to a crisp. And, after negotiations with activists, the police had taken down an eight-foot high hurricane fence and replaced it with much more mellow hip-high gates. The police and secret service reportedly even allowed the so-called "free speech area" to inch closer to the airport hotel where Vice President Dick Cheney was hosting a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser.

Even so, the hotel was still no closer than 200 yards away--too far removed for VP Cheney to hear the jabs and jeers of activists.

"It feels kind of futile," said one protester, looking longingly across the parking lot. From war veterans to environmentalists, about 300 protesters gathered under the blazing summer sun on Monday afternoon. Vice President Dick Cheney was in town once again.

In January, when the vice president last visited the very same Embassy Suites near the airport, activists tried to claim they had scored a victory by forcing Republicans to host their fundraising events outside of the city's center. But this time around, with elections a looming reality, protesters seemed disappointed they were corralled into a remote grassy field and that their message would not be delivered to commuters or downtown shoppers.

"You can say anything you want," one man bellowed into a bullhorn, "as long as you do it out of earshot."

For the past four years, Cheney has maintained a low profile while going about his business. From the get-go, this elusiveness only added to suspicions about Cheney's agenda. Environmentalists from the Sierra Club pointed out that Cheney has maintained an uncomfortably close relationship with former Enron CEO Ken Lay. They believe that this relationship--along with the heads of other oil, gas, and coal companies--has influenced Cheney to put industry's interests first when hammering out national energy policies.

Other activist complaints recalled the same theme: Cheney is more concerned about making his close circle of wealthy friends even wealthier; and to hell with everyone else. A few protesters carried signs denouncing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cheney's role in both of those operations has been shadowy. Most notably, in 2003, Halliburton, a military contracting company, was awarded a $500 million contract to rebuild Iraq. Cheney was Halliburton's CEO from 1995 until 2000. There was no bidding process for this juicy contract; Cheney simply awarded the company the rights to build infrastructure in Iraq.

It is believed that Monday's event raised more than $400,000 for the GOP.

by Phil Busse