Running Mate Talk Shifts to Man Leading Bush’s Hunt

Gov. George W. Bush indicated Friday that he was on the verge of choosing his vice presidential running mate, as former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, the man leading the search process, took a legal step that could make it easier for Bush to pick him.

Republican sources said Cheney, now a Texas businessman, moved to legally change his voting registration Friday from Texas to Wyoming--the state he represented in the House of Representatives for 11 years. Cheney informed the Bush campaign in a phone call Friday, one senior Republican said.

That would make Cheney a more viable candidate for the job because Article II of the Constitution says that if the president and vice president are “inhabitants” of the same state, that state cannot cast its electoral college votes for them. Though the legal questions are murky, if Cheney legally lived in Texas, Bush might have to forfeit the state’s 32 electoral votes by picking him.

Amid a frenzy of competing rumors, Cheney’s move immediately intensified speculation that he had moved to the top of Bush’s wish list. But campaign sources cautioned that other names remained in play, with most focus aimed at Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and Nebraska Sen. Charles Hagel. Other names still mentioned included Tennessee Sens. Bill Frist and Fred Thompson and Ohio Rep. John R. Kasich--though few of those mentioning them could claim much real knowledge of Bush’s intentions.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan refused to comment Friday evening on reports that Cheney has moved to the head of the pack of Republican vice presidential possibilities. “We’re not going to speculate,” he said.

A senior Bush campaign official did acknowledge that Cheney’s move was a sign that Bush had indicated he at least wanted to have him on the short list of contenders. But he warned against reading the move as a sign that Cheney had been selected.

On Friday, Bush indicated he would reach a final decision this weekend. “I’m going to think long and hard about the vice presidential selection,” he told reporters.

“I have not made up my mind. I have informed my staff that I know there’s going to be a lot of speculation, but I’ve asked them not to speculate, and I won’t either,” Bush added. “The days of speculation are over as far as we’re concerned.”

The focus on Cheney came just hours after a surge of interest in Arizona Sen. John McCain, the man Bush bested in the GOP primaries. On Thursday night it was revealed that McCain earlier this week told Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas J. Ridge that he would serve as Bush’s running mate if asked--though he did not expect or wish to be asked.

That touched off a flurry of activity that included a letter-writing campaign among House Republicans urging Bush to select McCain, who many in the GOP believe could provide the most electoral electricity for the ticket.

But Bush and McCain aides say they see little prospect of the two sometimes bitter rivals joining forces. Bush himself said Friday that he had not talked to McCain or any member of McCain’s staff--a revelation that reinforced Ridge’s report that Bush’s camp had received the news of the senator’s possible interest “coolly.”

Cheney’s appeal as a potential running mate derives largely from his quarter of a century of Washington experience. He served as White House chief of staff for President Ford, before serving in Congress, where he compiled a generally conservative voting record while maintaining good relations with moderates.

He served as Defense secretary for Bush’s father, playing a major role in the execution of the Persian Gulf War. He’s now chairman and CEO of Dallas-based Halliburton Corp., an oil engineering and construction company. Since this spring, he’s been directing the vice presidential search process for Bush.

One Bush advisor said that Cheney could add “gravitas” to the ticket, with his long resume balancing Bush’s more slender five years of experience in elected office. This official said the campaign also believed that Cheney would instantly pass one of the key tests for a vice presidential candidate: convincing voters that he’s ready to assume the presidency if needed.

Even so, many Republicans consider Cheney a low-risk pick unlikely to generate many sparks with voters. The largest questions surrounding Cheney concern his health. During his first congressional campaign, at age 37, he suffered a mild heart attack. He gave up smoking as a result.

After two more heart attacks, Cheney had quadruple bypass surgery in 1988 and has not reported any heart problems since. Still, some Republicans are leery of how voters might react to placing someone with that history the fabled “heartbeat away” from the presidency.

With good follow-up care, a proper diet and medication, Cheney should be able to withstand the rigors of a tough political campaign and vice presidential duties, several cardiologists said. However, all agreed that without knowing the extent of his heart damage, they couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t be at additional risk for heart failure or more heart attacks.

“If the heart attacks were mild and his pumping action is still good, it shouldn’t interfere in his daily activities. You can expect him to live nearly as long as any other person who doesn’t have coronary artery disease,” said Dr. Antoine Hage, director of cardiovascular rehabilitation at UCLA.

Dr. P. K. Shah, chairman of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, noted that if Cheney’s bypasses were performed with veins, rather than the mammary arteries doctors now prefer, there’s a greater chance he’d develop significant blockages to the bypassed vessels within 10 to 15 years of the surgery.

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Times researcher Massie Ritsch and staff writer Jane E. Allen contributed to this story.