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The real danger is if Hillary runs successfully for President. That will reestabish the two of them as co-Presidents. I've mentioned this in other posts, but I've reregistered as a DEM so that I have a voice in the DEM primary. I'll probably vote for Sharpton just to shake things up a bit. I would encourage anyone else in New York State to do the same. Bush is a given as the Repub. candidate in 2004. I hope he thinks very clearly about his choice of VP because that will be the person best positioned for the Presidential nomination in 2008. I'd love to see GW and Rudy in 2004, then Rudy and Condi Rice in 2008. I think those are unbeatable packages. I like the current VP very much but, as a Presidential candidate in 2008, I don't think he has a chance. There are the issues of his health, his age and his ties to the oil industry that could destroy his chances. The Repubs. have to be smart in '04 and '08. They can't shoot themselves in the foot and paint themselves into every available corner of the given room as they did with Dole.

but I've reregistered as a DEM so that I have a voice in the DEM primary.

You know, Dave, that's the "New Politics" in operation now. I am going to re-reg as a Dem in my state too, then flip back or register independent. The Dems play this cynical game and after being one of Barry's Boys in '64, being drafted by Lyndon Johnson (D-TX) in '68, and enduring Clinton for eight long miserable years, I am just not into "playing fair" anymore.

I'd love to see GW and Rudy in 2004,

Oh,yeah. Bubba-2 and a VP to the left of Al Gore. Good choice! Why not vote communist and be done with it? Or a Bubbette! and Sharpton ticket?

then Rudy and Condi Rice in 2008.

There ya go! A "price" and a VP whose only qualifications are gender and race! Well,maybe sexual orientations too,since she seems to have never had a boyfriend. Presidential pandering! Wadda ticket!

I think those are unbeatable packages.

And I think that if that is the best we can do,there is no longer any point in pretending we are a free country.

The real danger is if Hillary runs successfully for President.

Not to diminish the dangers of TOWWTBO (The One Who Wants to Be Obeyed), but don't put too much stock in the recent Democrat polling numbers. Dems are notoriously ill-informed. Most of those polled didn't even know who John Edwards was.

It was a name recognition poll only. If Barbra Streisand was one of the choices, she would have beat Lieberman by double-digits, too.

The amount of vote-fraud that TSWIA (Smartest Woman in America) would require to win the White House would ignite a civil war before they could finish counting the votes.

It cannot happen. Hillary cannot win. Ever.

I don't think Cheney has any intention of trying to succeed Bush in 2008, but I don't see the Vice Presidency as the best launching pad for a Presidential campaign anyway. It confers a high level of name recognition but no real authority.

Since the 12th Amendment changed the way the Vice President is selected, there have been only two Vice Presidents who successfully won the Presidency immediately after the President they served: Martin van Buren and George H. W. Bush. Against that set John C. Breckinridge in 1860, Richard Nixon in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968, and Al Gore in 2000, who tried and failed.

For prime candidates in 2008, assuming Bush is re-elected, we should think in terms of Cabinet officers, Republican governors, and leaders in Congress such as Senator Frist. If Cheney doesn't want a second term as VP, Bush should pick the person who can best help him in that role, not necessarily the person he thinks could most easily win the Presidency in 2008. Remember that in 1988, Ronald Reagan did not take sides in the Republican primary contest.