From The Herald Tribune
By Daryl Lease

We’re more than seven months away from Election Day, but we already have a clear front-runner in the competition for the most courageous candidate on the campaign trail — Congressman Clay Shaw.

A couple of weeks ago, the Floridan Republican stood next to Dick Cheney.

No, I’m not setting up a quail-hunting joke here. Shaw did something even braver than fetch a dead bird in the vice president’s presence.

Shaw brought Cheney to Florida to campaign for him.

I confess I fell a few honor-code violations short of earning a degree in political consulting. Still, I have to question the wisdom of any candidate sidling up to the vice president.

I mean, we’re talking about Dick “18 Percent” Cheney here.

As Washington Post polling editor Richard Morin pointed out in a recent column, Cheney’s approval rating is below post-trial numbers for Michael Jackson (25 percent) and O.J. Simpson (29 percent.)

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