- WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President
Dick Cheney said Wednesday he cannot envision any circumstance in which
he would not run for a second term, saying President Bush has been "very
clear he doesn't want to break up the team."
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- There has been persistent speculation that Cheney would
step down for political or health reasons.
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- "He's made his decision," Cheney said of Bush.
"I've made mine. I suppose right now, because we're in the run up
to the convention, people don't have much to talk about so you get speculation
on that. It's normal. When we get to the convention, I think that'll put
an end to it."
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- The vice president made his comments in a C-SPAN interview
that will be broadcast Sunday.
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- While Cheney is strongly supported by the GOP's conservative
base, some Republicans have quietly suggested that he should be replaced.
He has had four heart attacks and his approval ratings have plummeted amid
persistent questions about his role in promoting the Iraq war and in handling
the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
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- Asked if he could envision any circumstances in which
he would step aside, Cheney told C-SPAN: "Well, no, I can't. If I
thought that were appropriate, I certainly would. But he's made it very
clear that he wants me to run again. The way I got here in the first place
was that he persuaded me four years ago that I was the man he wanted in
that post, not just as a candidate, but as somebody to be part of the governing
team. He's been very clear he doesn't want to break up the team."
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- Cheney's wife, Lynne, was emphatic that he would accept
the vice presidential nomination again at the GOP convention in New York.
"Oh, it'll happen," she told C-SPAN.
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