A presidential homecoming

With three months left as Commander in Chief and a day after signing the biggest economic-assistance package since the Great Depression, President George W. Bush came home again.

The nation's 43rd President and first lady Laura Bush stepped off Air Force One at 11 a.m. Saturday, stopping briefly to honor Recording Library of West Texas volunteer Linda Fox before rushing to a private Republican Party fund-raiser at U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway's Midland home.

Secret Service agents quickly dispersed a small group of onlookers gathered behind a fence at Midland International Airport after Bush's plane landed, and streets were shut down for blocks around Conaway's home. The fund-raiser was closed to the press. Bush spent a little less than three hours in Midland, departing toward his ranch in Crawford just before 2 p.m.

After the fund-raiser, Bush made a statement during a 15-minute tour of his old stomping grounds, the George W. Bush Childhood Home.

"It's an amazing experience to come back to a place you were raised," the president told reporters. "I'm wiser, more experienced, but my heart and my values didn't change."

He reflected on the fact that, in a time of war and economic mess, his remaining time in office will not be easy. Bush said the financial rescue plan provided the tools necessary to stabilize credit markets, but that there still is "a lot of work to be done."

"We got a couple more hard months to go," he said, his wife at his side. "In the meantime, it's good to come back where it all started for us."

Saturday's Midland visit was Bush's first since he was sworn into office more than seven years ago. He grew up in Midland and moved back to delve into the energy business after graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975.

The president and first lady, both born in 1946, attended the same Midland school for just one year, in seventh grade. They did not really know each other until they met again in Midland, when they were 31, at a backyard barbecue of mutual friends.

The Bushes married three months later.

"This is a one-in-a-lifetime kind of deal to have the president in your home," Conaway said Friday. "There's a feel-good feeling about it."

Odessa Mayor Larry Melton greeted the president and first lady at the footsteps of Air Force One along with ex-Commerce Secretary Don Evans and his wife, Susie, Midland Mayor Wes Perry and Stan and Linda Fox.

"It was a great experience," Melton said. He had met Bush a few years ago at a mayor's conference in Washington, D.C.

"It's not my first meeting with him, but it was nice to see him in West Texas again."

Bush gave Linda Fox the President's Volunteer Service Award for her 23 years of service with the Recording Library of West Texas, where volunteers read text for audio versions of books and newspapers for the disabled.

Linda Fox said she was taken aback when she heard about the award.

"There are so many people in Midland that I know personally that do more volunteer work than I do," Fox said Friday. "It's very surprising, and I'm very honored." 

A little more than 400 people attended Saturday's fund-raiser. Some paid $10,000 to $28,500 a pop to get close to the Bushes for barbeque and photos, and others paid $250 just to be in the vicinity of the event.

Between the Midland fundraiser and a second set for Monday in San Antonio, Bush was helping draw in about $1 million for the party.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

 AT A GLANCE:

>> What: President George W. Bush's Midland visit for the Congressional Trust 2008 Reception, a Republican Party fund-raiser.

>> When: The president and first lady landed at Midland International Airport at 11 a.m. and departed shortly before 2 p.m. The event was supposed to take place Oct. 2 but was postponed while Congress addressed Wall Street's current crisis.

>> Where: The fundraiser was hosted at U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway's Midland home.

>> How much: Fund-raiser guests paid anywhere from $250 to $28,500 to get close to the Commander in Chief.