WASHINGTON -- When Dick Cheney gave George W. Bush the go-ahead to consider him as a potential running mate, Cheney knew just what to do.
"I scheduled a physical, talked with the family, later on talked with the board of directors at my company," he duly reported. "And, of course, eventually all of this came to fruition."
Came to fruition. In such clinical terms and with such a practical to-do list did Cheney abruptly yank himself out of his comfortable and contented private life to join the Republican presidential ticket and return to the public glare.
And now, after a grueling campaign in which Democrats ripped apart his conservative voting record, a protracted postelection pause in limbo and a heart attack along the way, Cheney is on track to become perhaps the most influential vice president in history.
Surely a stressful five-month stretch by any stretch of the imagination.
Cheney pooh-poohs any such notion, harking back to his days as former President Bush's secretary of defense.
"The Gulf War ... is sort of the ultimate stress for a public official," he says. "And I have not found this situation to be nearly as stressful."
Indeed, the self-described "man of few words" has been unflappable throughout the campaign and its aftermath, in keeping with his steady reputation through six terms in Congress and as a member of the Nixon, Ford and Bush administrations.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell's description of Cheney as he took the job of defense secretary still rings true: "Incisive, smart, no small talk, never showing any more surface than necessary. And tough."
A portly, 59-year-old with a crooked smile who looks more like a teddy bear than a pit bull, Cheney demonstrated his mettle within days of taking over as defense secretary when he publicly rebuked the Air Force chief of staff for "inappropriate" remarks to Congress, sending shock waves through the Pentagon.
"It was useful to do that," Cheney said later.
Nor did Cheney flinch from delivering straight talk to those above him. In his memoir, Powell recalls that when President Bush made plans for a humanitarian mission to Somalia that he hoped could be wrapped up in the final days of his presidency, Cheney warned him: "Mr. President, we can't have it both ways. We can't get in there fully until mid-December. And the job won't be done by January 19."
Cheney has served much the same role since joining the Bush campaign, in measured words delivering a tough, unyielding critique of Al Gore and his team.
At the Republican convention, it was Cheney who faulted the Clinton-Gore era as one of "opportunities squandered" and exhorted: "It is time for them to go."
In the campaign debates, it was Cheney who politely chided, "With all due respect, this administration has a bad track record" on defense readiness.
During the postelection tumult, it was Cheney who went on national TV to push Gore to concede, couching his sentiments in an assessment of the vice president's public image.
"History would regard him in a better light if he were to bring this to a close," Cheney admonished.
Cheney ended the campaign by lining up outside a Wyoming polling place in a gray pinstripe suit -- no gloves or coat -- to cast his vote, seemingly impervious to the cold, as usual displaying neither excitement nor nerves.
"It's been a long but an absolutely fascinating campaign," he reported with trademark matter-of-factness.
Yet despite his quiet demeanor and pragmatic traits, there is another side to the vice president-elect.
Cheney gave the public a brief glimpse of it when he responded to questions about his health a few days after his latest heart attack -- his fourth -- by jumping up and down and pumping his arms.
"He's been doing jumping jacks all morning," declared George W. Bush. "He's amazing."
Cheney's wife of 36 years, Lynne, describes her husband as a man possessed of "a very interesting mind," with a passion for fly fishing and a belief that cooking is honorable men's work.
"I would say one of the keys to understanding Dick Cheney is understanding fly fishing," she told the Republican convention. "It is not a sport for the impatient. And most of all, it is not a sport for chatterboxes."
Texas rancher Tobin Armstrong, a longtime friend and hunting buddy of Cheney's, says that despite his taciturn image, the future vice president is "the most delightful fellow you could possibly imagine." Funny, too, though his humor is "a little on the dry side," Armstrong said.
An excellent shot, Cheney is modest even in sport.
"He doesn't claim the bird. He's not an 'I-got-him' type of fellow," Armstrong said. "He just enjoys himself thoroughly."
When George W. Bush sealed the GOP nomination, Cheney wasn't the obvious choice for vice president. Rather, he was a solid pick to lead Bush's search for a running mate.
But as the veep search wore on, Bush came to believe that the person he was looking for had been right in front of him all along. Cheney reluctantly came around, later saying on CNN, "I felt, I guess, a good deal of warmth" toward Bush.
That's about as much public emotion as Cheney is apt to express. And with that, he resigned his post as CEO of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based oil services company, and began the sometimes-painful return to public life.
Since the election, Bush has displayed his confidence in Cheney by placing him in charge of transition planning and having him serve as the visible face of the administration-in-waiting.
So substantial was Cheney's role, notwithstanding his midstream heart attack, that Bush found himself answering question about who was really in charge.
"When he speaks, he's speaking on my behalf," Bush said.
Cheney, who backed away from making his own bid for the presidency nearly a decade ago, wouldn't have it any other way.
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Richard Cheney
Age-Birth Date: 59; Jan. 30, 1941
Education: B.A., University of Wyoming, 1965; M.A., University of Wyoming, 1966. Doctoral work at University of Wisconsin, 1966-68
Experience: Chairman and chief executive of Dallas-based Halliburton Co., an oil services company (1995-2000); secretary of defense (1989-1993); House Republican whip (1988-1989); Wyoming congressman (1979-1989); White House chief of staff under President Ford (1975-76); deputy assistant to Ford (1974-75)
Family: Wife, Lynne; daughters Elizabeth and Mary
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