Here's the linky:http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm ... ction=newsRepublicans Rally Around Cheney as Rumors Swirl
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush and other Republicans are rallying around Vice President Dick Cheney as they seek to quash rumors that Bush might ultimately replace Cheney on his re-election ticket.
Some pundits believe that if Bush is struggling in the polls a few months from now as the 2004 campaign moves into high gear, he might boost his chances for re-election by picking a running mate other than Cheney.
Helping to spur an already active Washington rumor mill was the Feb. 14 cover story in the National Journal which depicted a stern-faced Cheney standing next Bush.
"Just the ticket?" queried the headline. "Does having Dick Cheney as his running mate help or hurt George W. Bush in 2004?"
The article mentioned potential successors to Cheney such as former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
At a Republican governors fund-raiser that marked the kickoff of his 2004 campaign, Bush gave a ringing endorsement of Cheney and in a joking way, alluded obliquely to rumors he might be mulling a change.
He quipped that he had put Cheney in charge of his vice presidential search committee, as he had originally done in the 2000 campaign.
"He tells me he's reviewed all the candidates, and he's come back with the same recommendation as last time," Bush said. "In fact, I made the choice myself, and I have taken the measure of this man. They don't come any better, and I am proud to have Dick Cheney by my side."
The National Journal article said there were "grumblings" among some Republicans who felt that removing Cheney from the ticket might be helpful to Bush because the vice president has been a key target of Democratic attacks for such issues as his past role as head of energy company Halliburton Co., the energy firm that contracts in post-war Iraq.
Cheney's negative ratings in public opinion polls regularly are the worst of anyone in the Bush administration.
It's been quite a profitable haul of news from Reuters. But anyway, if he replaced Cheney with something else, I might- MIGHT- vote for him.
