Cheney Avoids Residential Crisis

— -- Dick Cheney, a former Defense secretary, has emerged as a “leadingcandidate” to be George W. Bush?s running mate. Cheney took a bigstep today to make himself eligible.

By Marc AmbinderABCNEWS.comJuly 21—

Dick Cheney has been heading up Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s hunt for a presidential running mate, but he also took a step today that could clear the way for him to get the coveted call.

Cheney, the former secretary of defense, traveled to Wyoming today to change his voter registration from Texas, a move that could allow him to overcome a provision in the Constitution that would have prevented him from becoming Bush’s running mate.

The Catch

Under the 12th Amendment, members of the Electoral College can cast their votes for president and vice president with one restriction — one of the two “shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”

Until today, Cheney was a registered voter in Dallas County, Texas and lived in Dallas. Governor Bush lives in Austin. If Bush were to select Cheney, and Cheney had not changed residency, then electoral votes cast by Texans for both men might have been disqualified, constitutional law experts told ABCNEWS.

The term “inhabitant” in the Constitution has been interpreted by courts to mean residence, says Akhil Reed Amar, who teaches law at Yale. For state purposes a pastiche of regulations govern when an inhabitant is entitled to certain privileges of residency. In Wyoming, for example, prospective owners of a fish and game license must live in the state for a year. But for citizenship rights granted by the constitution or the federal government, including voter registration, there are few restrictions, Amar says.

“States aren’t permitted to say,‘we’ve got a year waiting period,” Amar says.

Under Wyoming regulations posted on the secretary of state’s Web site, “Residence is the place where a person has a current habitation and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention of returning.”

To have official status as a Wyoming resident, a citizen can’t leave the state with the intention of settling somewhere else. And citizens can’t be registered to vote in another state.

Signal or Smokescreen?

Today was the last day to register to vote in the state’s Aug. 22 primary. But sources tell ABCNEWS that Cheney took the step largely so he could be considered as a running mate — though not necessarily because he has been chosen.

Bush reiterated today that he has yet to make up his mind and plans to spend the weekend doing so.

“The days of speculation are over,” Bush told reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, this afternoon. “I’m going to make up my mind here over the weekend.”

According to a senior Republican official, Cheney is a “leading candidate” on a very short list to be Bush’s running mate.

This person, who talked to Bush this evening, said the governor did not intend to notify the “losers” or the winner until Monday at the earliest, with the announcement coming no earlier than Tuesday.

In recent days, several senior Republican sources have suggested that Cheney might well be on the list of vice-presidential prospects that he is helping Bush draft. And Bush’s refusal to rule out tapping Cheney in a chat with reporters aboard his campaign plane Tuesday night started political tongues wagging.

ABCNEWS’ Mark Halperin contributed to this report.