Danforth, Cheney on Bush V.P. Short List

July 24 -- Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth signaled that he would join Texas Gov. George W. Bush on the Republican ticket if asked — but said he expected another prominent candidate to be offered the coveted post.

“It would be pretty tough to turn down,” he told ABCNEWS on Sunday. “But that’s not going to happen. I think it’s [former Defense Secretary Richard] Cheney.”

Secret Meeting

ABCNEWS has learned that Danforth joined Cheney on Bush’s final short list of possible vice-presidential running mates after the three men staged a secret meeting last Tuesday.

At the Sheraton hotel in Chicago, Bush met alone for several hours with Danforth, his wife Sally, and Cheney, who is said to have participated in the meeting in his capacity as the head of Bush’s running mate selection effort, not as one of the final candidates. The meeting was so secretive that even most of Bush’s traveling aides were prevented by the Secret Service from even getting close to the ninth-floor suite that was used as a meeting room.

One source described the meeting as a “get to know each other” session. After the four of them met, Cheney left the room and allowed Bush and the Danforths to talk privately.

Mrs. Danforth’s presence is notable, given that Danforth took himself out of the running in June, saying that he and his wife were enjoying their private life.

But lately, friends of the couple say, Mrs. Danforth has “softened” her opposition to her husband joining the ticket. In addition, this was the first known instance of Bush meeting with the spouse of a potential running mate.

Asked by ABCNEWS last week how familiar he was with Danforth, Bush conceded that he barely knew the former senator. Indeed, although Danforth is a close friend and long-time associate of former President Bush, Gov. Bush and Danforth had spent very little time together before last Tuesday.

Bush ‘Impressed’ With Danforth

Meeting over coffee and soft drinks, Bush and Danforth had what one source who has talked to both men called a “good discussion of their shared experiences.” And Bush is said to have been “impressed” with Danforth.

Bush has recently met privately with several other Republicans who, sources have said, were under consideration at some point in the process, including Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and New York Gov. George Pataki. But none of these meetings were shrouded in such secrecy and were, in fact, revealed publicly after the fact.

Although he is retired, Danforth still has high name recognition in Missouri, which campaign strategists for both Bush and Vice President Al Gore say is one of the two or three most important battleground states for the general election. Danforth earned a reputation for absolute probity and bipartisan comity during his three terms in the Senate — both of these are themes Bush is stressing in his campaign.