President Bush has departed Houston after spending about an hour and a half at the River Oaks home of Richard and Nancy Kinder. It was the first stop on Bush’s two-city Texas fundraising tour.

The fundraisers, in Houston and San Antonio, are expected to raise about $1.3 million for the Texas Republican Party and the campaign of Sen. John Cornyn, who is likely to face democrat Rick Noriega in 2008.

Houston police shut down portions of the Gulf Freeway and Memorial Drive for Bush’s trips to and from the fundraiser. According to several business owners downtown, police also ordered some parking lots near the Pierce Elevated to close for parts of the day.

The big-name candidates who have come to town quietly and raked in lots of cash.

Richard Kinder is a director of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners. He had been president of Houston-based Enron until 1996.

Houston has become a lucrative destination for political fundraising.