In what was more like a brief layover than a proper visit, President Bush made a rush-hour dash into and out of Atlanta on Tuesday to boost the Republican congressional campaign of Rick Goddard.

Close to 200 people — including Gov. Sonny Perdue — attended the event at the home of Harrison Merrill, a local developer, just off West Paces Ferry Road.

BEN GRAY/bgray@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

President George W. Bush chats with Sherri Goggin, founder of Bundles of Joy and a volunteer with the Butterfly Dreams Farm Therapeutic Riding Program, before giving her the President's Volunteer Service Award.

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Goddard is running against U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, a Democrat who sits in a GOP-leaning district and has been targeted by Republicans in the past two elections.

Reporters were barred from the $1,000-a-head fund-raiser for Goddard, a retired Air Force major general.

But Goddard spokesman Tim Baker said attendees, in addition to Perdue, included Secretary of State Karen Handel, former congressman Mac Collins, state Public Service Commissioner Angela Spier, state GOP party chairman Sue Everhart, and Alec Poitevint, who heads up the presidential campaign of John McCain in Georgia.

Baker said Bush spoke for 40 minutes, praising Goddard, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss — who is up for re-election but did not attend — and McCain.

But after shaking hands for only 10 minutes, Bush left the event 40 minutes ahead of schedule, as a line of heavy thunderstorms approached Dobbins Air Reserve Base, where Air Force One was parked.

Bush's early exit forced the shutdown of northbound I-75 at 5:30 p.m., during the height of rush-hour traffic leaving downtown Atlanta. All told, the president spent just over 100 minutes on the ground.

Bush arrived just before 4 p.m. Those greeting him included Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, and 84-year-old Lou Brissie of North Augusta, S.C.

Brissie overcame a shattered leg during World War II to become a major league pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians in the 1940s and 1950s. Bush spent several minutes chatting with the old ballplayer.

The flight to and from Georgia was the only trip on Bush's Tuesday agenda, which prompted Marshall, Goddard's opponent, to suggest that his Republican opponent pick up the entire cost of the presidential visit.

Vice President Dick Cheney flew to Macon for a Goddard fund-raiser last month. Douglas Moore, a spokesman for Marshall, said such visits cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"These things are wrong. Rick knows it. This is a character issue," Moore said.

Baker said the Goddard campaign will write a check for $40,000 to the Republican National Committee, which will use that money to reimburse the federal government.

"We're in full compliance with federal law that's been in place for 30 or more years," Baker said.