WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- The Bush campaign worked to tamp down talk Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney is a drag on the president's re-election.
Bush-Cheney '04 Chief Strategist Matthew Dowd released a memo saying most Americans "want Vice President Cheney to stay on the ticket."
Saying that support for keeping Cheney on the ticket has increased since 2003, Dowd wrote: "Fifty-nine percent of Americans now say that Vice President Cheney should remain on the ticket, while 34 percent say that he should not. Since one year ago, Americans' support for keeping him has increased from a net 14 points to a net 25 points."
Support for keeping Cheney on the ticket, Dowd continued, "has even increased among Independents -- from 46 percent last July to 50 percent today."
Dowd's memo was issued as part of the campaign's effort to put an end to rumors Cheney would leave the ticket for "health reasons," started by a story on the front page of Thursday's New York Times that cited unnamed, "prominent Democrats," as the source for the rumor.
