Well I respectfully disagree, Gingrich is not going to easily be the sit and not do much VP, and frankly he’s far smarter and politically astute than Santorum will ever be. I also respectfully disagree that Santorum’s pretty smart, he’s not a dullard, but he’s not a mental giant.
As to Cheney screwing things, Cheney made it clear from day 1 he wasn’t going to run for the Presidency, and while I would have loved to have seen him school Obama like he did Breck Girl, I don’t think it would have mattered much, the electorate clearly was disgusted with Bush, and any republican would have had a hard time winning in 08. Cheney may have motivated the Base more than McCain did, to actually show up on election day, but I don’t know, the electorate by and large was tired of the Bush administration. Mostly IMHO due them perpetually not working hard enough to get their message out and being perpetually painted by their opponents, but still that’s where things were.
As I mentioned before, Newt is still driving the debate, he is the only one in the contest who has put the White House on the defensive.. and I don’t see Newt playing second fiddle to Santorum without serious infighting occurring. Newts too smart, and got too many ideas, to be strangleheld to the limits of Santorums ability.
This is what was passed off as wisdom about Ronald Reagan too. You know, just because a guy is sweet and shuns sin, it does not make him less intelligent. Just the opposite, in fact.