Kansas City, Mo. ? Vice President Dick Cheney talked about the war on terror and the economy in a fund-raising appearance Friday in Kansas City.

“Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror,” Cheney told about 200 people at the $250 a head fund-raiser for Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt. “We will finish what we have begun, and we will win this war on terror.”

Blunt has not officially declared for office but is the expected Republican candidate for governor in 2004.

Cheney said Blunt was an example of “a rare public official who actually reduced the size of his own staff and budget.”

Cheney, making his sixth visit to Missouri since taking office, said he was grateful for the support he and President Bush had received in the state.

“We didn’t need a recount here,” he said, drawing laughs from the audience.

Cheney also said the Bush administration’s tax cuts were helping the economy.

“At the time we took office, the economy was sliding into recession,” he said. “The Bush tax cuts brought us out of recession.”

A handful of protesters carried signs across the street from the downtown hotel where Cheney spoke.

Cheney also called for litigation reform, a theme that Blunt echoed in brief remarks after the vice president left.