Cheney to headline fund-raiser for New Jersey GOP candidate

Bret Schundler, former mayor of Jersey City

By Major Garrett
CNN White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Cheney will headline a multimillion-dollar fund-raiser Monday for Bret Schundler, the GOP nominee for governor of New Jersey.

Bill Guhl, spokesman for the Schundler campaign, said the fund-raiser in Sea Girt, New Jersey, is designed to raise $3.2 million, which under New Jersey law is the most that candidates can raise without invoking strict spending guidelines.

"The goal is to get all the money we can at this event," Guhl said. "We'd like to raise it all in one fell swoop."

The vice president's spokeswoman, Juleanna Glover Weiss, confirmed Cheney will headline the fund-raiser. It will be the first time Cheney or any senior member of the Bush White House has attended a Schundler fund-raiser since Schundler won the GOP primary over former congressman Bob Franks.

Schundler, former mayor of Jersey City, is facing Democrat Jim McGreevey. The latest poll, conducted by Gannett from July 12 through July 14, showed McGreevey leading 39 percent to 30 percent with 32 percent undecided.

The New Jersey and Virginia governors races are top White House priorities in 2001 as Bush tries to prove his agenda can lift GOP candidates. In Virginia, Republican Mark Earley, the former attorney general, is facing Democrat Mark Warner, the Democratic Senate nominee in 1996.