Vice President Dick Cheney speaking during a campaign visit on Oct. 14, 2004, to Penn's Colony grounds in Clinton Township. His bus tour stopped in the afternoon at Penn's Colony, about a mile south of Saxonburg on Pittsburgh Street, to campaign for the Republican presidential ticket. Cheney died Nov. 4, 2025. Butler Eagle File Photo
Jack Neely
A visit to Penn’s Colony in Saxonburg from Vice President Dick Cheney on Oct. 13, 2004 received mixed reactions from Butler County residents.
Some of the estimated 1,000 attendees of his rally, like Karen McKee, of Sarver, said the vice president’s presence in the county felt like he was “meeting the little people.”
“Nothing like this ever happens in Saxonburg,” McKee said.
Others, like Joe Sikorski, of Saxonburg, attended Cheney’s visit to protest his campaign for running mate, then-president George W. Bush.
“People have got to know that this is more than just a vote,” Sikorski said.
But when speaking to about 1,000 people at the rally at Penn’s Colony that day, Cheney’s speech defended the Bush administration's commitment on the war in Iraq and combating terrorism. He also criticized the platform of their opponent, Democratic Party nominee John Kerry.
“The clearest difference is that President Bush understands the war on terrorism and he has a plan to confront it. John Kerry does not,” Cheney said.
Vice President Dick Cheney during a campaign visit Oct. 13, 2004, to Penn's Colony grounds in Clinton Township. Cheney died Nov. 4, 2025. Butler Eagle File Photo
Dave Prelosky
Vice President Dick Cheney gets off the bus for a campaign visit to Penn's Colony grounds in Clinton Township. Cheney died Nov. 4, 2025. Butler Eagle File Photo
Jack Neely
Vice President Dick Cheney speaks during a campaign visit Oct. 13, 2004, to Penn's Colony grounds in Clinton Township. Cheney died Nov. 4, 2025. Butler Eagle File Photo
Jack Neely
Vice President Dick Cheney waves during a campaign visit Oct. 13, 2004, to Penn's Colony grounds in Clinton Township. Cheney died Nov. 4, 2025. Butler Eagle File Photo
Jack Neely
Boy Scout Tom Essay shows a pen handed to him by Vice President Dick Cheney during a campaign visit on Oct. 13, 2004. Cheney died Nov. 4, 2025. Butler Eagle File Photo
Dave Prelosky
This is Page 1 from Oct. 14, 2004, when Vice President Dick Cheney visited Butler County on a campaign trip.
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This is Page 3 from Oct. 14, 2004, when Vice President Dick Cheney visited Butler County on a campaign trip.
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