Quotes of the Day

George W. Bush's choice of Dick Cheney as his running mate defied the usual calculus of vice-presidential selection: a retired Cabinet Secretary from a state with just three electoral votes plus a charisma deficit didn't appear to equal a brilliant electoral strategy. But Cheney, it turned out, seemed to compensate for Bush's perceived weaknesses. Though only 5 1/2 years older than Bush, he added an air of experience and wisdom to a candidate who was only in his sixth year of politics.

Cheney's gravitas now feels more like gravity dragging Bush down. A TIME/CNN poll last week found that 43% of Americans would like to see Bush keep Cheney on the ticket, while 42% would like to see him gone. A recent Fox poll showed Cheney's approval 10% behind Bush's. Once a complement to Bush, Cheney now seems to amplify the President's liabilities. Back in 2000, most people had never heard of Halliburton, the oil-and-gas-and-contracting behemoth that Cheney headed before being tapped by Bush. Cheney isn't helped by the fact that Halliburton has benefited from the Iraq war he championed or that investigations of the company seem to multiply. The Justice Department last week launched a review into alleged bribes the company had flung around the globe in order to obtain foreign contracts. Cheney ran the company during part of the time frame covered by the probe, and his office, not surprisingly, isn't commenting. And last week's report that Cheney gave Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a ride on his plane as the two went off to hunt ducks in Louisiana came just as the Associate Justice must vote on whether records from Cheney's energy task force can remain secret. Furious Democrats called on Scalia to recuse himself from the case.

Then there are the weapons of mass destruction. Of all the Bushies, Cheney was the most foreboding about the threat they posed. "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction [and that he will use them] against our friends, against our allies and against us," Cheney told an audience of veterans in August 2002. Senior White House aides say they are not worried that Cheney is weighing down the ticket. He's a great fund raiser and base motivator. "These are serious times, and he's a serious guy," says a presidential adviser. "People aren't going to care about Halliburton ... They're going to care about who can protect them." For his part, Cheney is amused by the Democratic attacks. "That's politics," he says to friends, grinning his trademark half grin and shrugging his shoulders to signal there's nothing to worry about.

• Matthew Cooper | Washington