They may not have known it, but 60 children from some of Pittsburgh's poorest neighborhoods were in the thick of presidential politics for the past three days.

Keith Srakocic, The Associated Press Vice president Dick Cheney watches his grandaughter, Kate Perry, 10, throw out a ceremonial first pitch before the Class AA minor league baseball game between the Altoona Curve and the Harrisburg Senators in Altoona yesterday. Click photo for larger image. More Campaign 2004 coverage Presidential politics intrude on Fox Chapel's dappled lanes Edwards' choice made after long consultation over potential candidate NRA spat with hunters could spill into politics

It all began at 4 p.m. Thursday with an urgent phone call. The Air Force's 911th Airlift Wing in Moon had decided the children could not begin their summer camp at the base tomorrow morning, as had been planned for five months.

Vice President Dick Cheney would be arriving then on Air Force Two to campaign in Pittsburgh. His presence would mean the children, part of the federally funded Weed & Seed program, had to find a different place to launch their camp.

Lt. Cathleen Snow, who coordinates press coverage at the base for landings such as Cheney's, said she decided that the expected crush of media and security personnel would strain the base staff. It would have been impossible, she said, to accommodate the children's camp and the vice president at the same time.

So she jumped into action to try to shift the camp to Moon Park, only five minutes from the base.

Meantime, Democrats heard of the children's displacement and also tried to intervene. Supporters of John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, wanted to relocate the camp to the Sarah Heinz House on the North Side. Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry.

The Heinz location, as it turned out, was already booked. No matter. Weed & Seed program supervisors found another site on their own, the Kingsley Association in Larimer.

By then, though, the Republicans had rejoined the competition for these young campers. About 8 p.m. Thursday, campaign publicists pitched a fresh idea to bring the kids right into Cheney's midst.

They suggested to Snow that the children be bused to the air base Monday afternoon. Then they could stand on the tarmac to watch Cheney deplane.

But Stephen Chatman, assistant coordinator of Pittsburgh's Weed & Seed program, would not consider the idea.

"I wasn't going to make more changes to satisfy their whims," he said yesterday.

Chatman had scrambled Thursday night to revise the first day of camp. He had notified bus drivers, parents, supervisors and a caterer of the new location. He was not about to change everything again.

More important, Chatman said, he was concerned about the children, who are 9 to 12 years old.

He did not want to subject them to an afternoon on a red-hot landing strip, so they could get a look at Cheney for a minute or two. He said he feared that the kids' attention span would expire long before photographers ran out of film.

"They don't know Cheney," Chatman said. "They don't relate to him. Many of these kids have never even seen an airplane."

The children, from Hazelwood, Homestead, Homewood and East Liberty, have been involved in Weed & Seed for a year. The camp is a culmination of education and drug-prevention programs in which mentors work with them.

The last several summer camps have been held at the air base, all with resounding success, Chatman said. He praised Snow and the rest of the people at the base for creating a welcoming atmosphere for the children.

This time, he said, politics made a mess of opening day.

Dave Farley, the Weed & Seed project director, said he hopes the camp will return to the air base Tuesday morning, following the one-day disruption. The children would meet there through Friday.

"Our primary concern was the children, and that they not be jerked around," Farley said.

Chatman said he was especially annoyed by the alternate plans to remove and then return children to the base so they could be part of a political opportunity.

"We weren't going to be part of the jockeying they're doing," he said.