Interest high in v.p. debate

WASHINGTON — Their differences could not be starker.

After a quarter century at the highest levels of government, Vice President Dick Cheney epitomizes the gray Washington bureaucrat — somber, solid, unlikely to make women's hearts flutter. His challenger for White House No. 2, John Edwards, is still new to public life — just six years in the U.S. Senate — and his stock in trade is his sunny smile and his litigator's skills of persuasion.

When the two meet up tonight in Cleveland for the only vice presidential debate of Campaign 2004, the future of the free world will not be hanging in the balance. Voters vote for presidents, not vice presidents. But analysts expect viewership of the 90-minute duel to be high, nevertheless.

"It's Dr. Doom versus Huck Finn," says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "Very little rides on this debate, but it's going to be enormously interesting. People will be interested to see this fairly curious matchup."

Cheney has evolved during his term as vice president. George W. Bush put him at his side four years ago to lend gravitas to the Republican ticket, an acknowledgment that Bush's Washington resume — particularly in foreign policy — was a bit light. Now, after almost a full term in office and a trial by fire as president during Sept. 11 and two wars, Bush is running for re-election on his own record, not based on the team he will bring with him.

On the campaign trail, Cheney still represents an important voice of experience at the president's side, but he is also Bush's principal attack dog — walking right up to the line of propriety (or crossing it, in the view of Democrats) in suggesting that electing Sen. John Kerry president could make the nation more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

To base Republican voters, the red meat Cheney serves up is tasty indeed. But to other voters less sure of their leanings, he may be a liability. Halliburton, the energy firm Cheney served as CEO, has for years been a focus of controversy, both at the Securities and Exchange Commission, over Cheney's own stewardship, and now because of its Iraq war contracts. Cheney's place at the center of litigation over his White House energy task force also feeds his image of controversy, reflected in polls that show unusually high negatives for a vice president, in the 40 percent range.