Washington ? Seldom seen in Washington, Dick Cheney has become the Republican Party’s high-ranking, frequent-flying fund-raiser. From Fayetteville to Fargo to Fort Lauderdale, the vice president has quietly hauled in more than $12 million for candidates in 44 stops so far this year.

At most places, there are photos and chats with donors. Pep talks about President Bush’s programs. Tough words echoing Bush’s about fighting corporate corruption. But no mention of the federal investigation under way into accounting practices at Halliburton Co. while Cheney was in charge and no chance for reporters to ask questions.

Iowa Republican congressional candidate Stan Thompson, left, and Vice President Dick Cheney wave to supporters during a fund-raising breakfast for Thompson in Des Moines, Iowa. Cheney has become the Republican Party's high-ranking, frequent-flying fund-raiser. He's quietly hauled in 2 million for candidates so far this year, including 75,000 for Thompson on Tuesday.

For months after the Sept. 11 attacks, Cheney was often said to be working or staying at “undisclosed locations” as a security precaution. He still slips in and out of the White House, unseen for days, destinations outside Washington sometimes unknown until Air Force Two lands.

Last week, he turned up unannounced aboard a nuclear submarine off Florida. Earlier, he made an unpublicized visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to talk with health officials about their efforts against bioterrorism.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise says Cheney’s office does not announce travel that involves national security.

Political trips are another matter, though still tightly controlled.

He hasn’t taken questions from reporters in months. Indeed, journalists are generally kept too far away to even try. But the spokeswoman dismisses as “absurd” any suggestion that Cheney shies away from reporters because of the Halliburton matter.

Aides say that unlike many predecessors, Cheney has no aspiration to the presidency, one reason he doesn’t court reporters.

The Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating accounting practices of his old company, Halliburton, in May. There are also 15 investor lawsuits, one of which names Cheney as a defendant.

He was in Iowa raising money when Bush signed corporate-responsibility legislation this week. He also skipped the president’s Cabinet meeting and a discussion on the issue on Wednesday as he began a working vacation at his Jackson, Wyo., home.

On the fund-raising trail, Cheney doesn’t shy from the issue of corporate responsibility though he doesn’t mention his background at Halliburton.

On July 19, he headlined a fund-raiser in Houston for Senate candidate John Cornyn at a hotel across the street from bankrupt Enron Corp.

“Be honest and aboveboard in all dealings and truthful in reporting profits and losses,” Cheney said. “The foundation of any economy is confidence.”

He’s working hard to help Republicans keep the House and win the Senate this year. Like former President Clinton, Cheney sometimes wedges multiple fund-raisers into a single day.

“As a former member of Congress, he certainly recognizes that campaigning is a fact of life,” says spokeswoman Millerwise. The GOP and the candidates pay for virtually all of his political travel, she says.

Democrats are increasingly dogging Cheney at his fund-raisers, trying to stain him by association with a wave of corporate scandals. Iowa Democrats rolled out a new mascot “Hallibacon,” a man in a pig costume to make their point when Cheney was in the state Monday and Tuesday. Cheney waved at Hallibacon, who waved back.

A small group of protesters taunted the vice president at a July 18 fund-raiser in West Conshohocken, Pa. One demonstrator held a sign that read: “Cheney: Of the $, by the $, for the $.”

But none of that has undercut Cheney’s ability to bring in campaign cash.

He had one of his best nights on July 19, bringing in $600,000 in Macon, Ga. for Rep. Saxby Chambliss, who is running for the Senate.

As Hallibacon stalked him in Iowa, he raised more than $100,000 for Rep. Jim Leach on Monday, and $175,000 the next day for congressional candidate Stan Thompson.