This is not a bad article. A Vice President with ambitions to be President would certainly change the picture for the next election.
I think the crocodile tears about Cheney 2008 lie outside reality. The problem is, I don't see the Vice President carrying any state that has more than 8 electoral votes (assuming he is not running against Hillary).
Second, George H.W. Bush and John Quincy Adams stand alone among Vice Presidents for a reason. Both followed strong, popular presidents and most Presidencies, after 8 years, have more baggage than a sitting VP can overcome.
Lastly, it would have been political suicide for the President to dump the Vice President in 2004. The Vice President, of course, could have orchestrated his own retirement, but the tenor of the times and his personal dedication to public service outweighed any petty political considerations four years hence.
In sum, we are where we are because history inexorably delivered us here. Let the best candidate emerge.
Given Bush's current popularity, and the war, no VP of his would have had a chance at the nomination in 2008, or at election if we nonimated him.