Several emails in response to this comment:

Former Republican congressman Vin Weber made an interesting point at a Humphrey Institute panel during the convention: Republicans would be in better shape now if Dick Cheney had run for president. Whoever the eventual nominee was would have cleanly separated himself from the Bush administration and shown himself to be his own man by beating Cheney.

Several people ask what would have been in it for Cheney. Good point: The scenario presupposes that he would have acted either selflessly or delusionally. A few others speculate that Cheney would have won. I find that hard to believe: Electability would have weighed him down, and so would all of the conservative complaints about the administration.