And Now, the Veepstakes

By FRANK BRUNI
NYT

I have two words for you: Dick Cheney.

Just a week before the news that George W. Bush was picking him as a running mate, he was on neither pundits’ lips nor oddsmakers’ lists.

I have two more: Sarah Palin.

At this point four years ago, nary a soothsayer on the coasts, plains or windswept tundra foretold her astonishing Iditarod: from moose’s worst enemy to John McCain’s best hope, and from Katie Couric’s quarry to — this week — her competition.

In something of a lamestream grudge match, Palin is guest-hosting “Today” while Couric does those chores on “Good Morning America.”

The above is worth remembering as the presidential race turns the corner into its most feverishly speculative, excessively breathless phase: the veepstakes. The pivot began last week, with Mitt Romney fielding questions about it from Jay Leno, and it continued during the Sunday morning talk shows, on which names were tossed like so much salad and Paul Ryan performed a multi-network jig for the gig. A Romney victory in Wisconsin would only hasten the frenzied dance.

(More here.)