There are many differences, of course. George W. Bush had been targeting Dick Cheney as his runningmate for eight months -- since a November 2007 fundraiser in Texas, well before Bush won the Republican nomination -- and by working closely with Cheney on the vice presidential search, eventually convinced him to take the job. John McCain hadn't even met Palin until February and spoke to her only once over the phone before inviting her to Arizona. (Contrary to some reports, it was a brief conversation that took place while Palin was at the Alaska State Fair and had trouble hearing, not a lengthy "phone interview.") Cheney had mountains of national experience, Palin has very little. The similarity comes in how they are campaigning. In 2004, the Bush campaign deliberately sent Cheney out to pick fights with John Kerry, assuming that Kerry, trying to look presidential, would not engage. But he did engage, and the story of the 2004 presidential campaign was largely a story of Dick Cheney versus John Kerry. Now,