Dick Cheney

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They say that if you put a billion monkeys in front of a billion typewriters for a billion years, one of them will write a Shakespearean play. Or maybe throw feces at each other -- but then they'd look like a political campaign.

So, searching the web for the answer to the question: "What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney?" I found at least a billion sites that gave the same answer: Lipstick. LOL.

So, now that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has officially been anointed as Republican VP candidate Palin, it's time to figure out the actual differences between Palin and the current vice president.

More from Politicker.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe: According to local cartoonists, Alaska's loss isn't necessarily America's gain

The talk of Washington over the last couple of days is a new tell-all book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

But what do George W. Bush and Dick Cheney think of it?

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There were some unhappy Republicans in Washington last week when U.S. Senate candidate Thomas Kean missed a fundraising event featuring Vice President Richard Cheney; Kean said he was not trying to avoid appearing with Cheney, blaming his tardiness on heavy Route 1 traffic. Those same D.C. Republicans are likely to be further offended by statements made by the candidate's father, former Governor Thomas Kean, who told the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee that he believed President George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have failed to deal with what the possibility that terrorists could attack the United States using nuclear or radiological weapons.

One Republican insider noted that while Kean may be accurate in his comments, his criticism of fellow Republicans on their main issue -- the war on terrorism -- won't help his son's fundraising efforts. Pundits say that the GOP has a better chance of picking up Democratic Senate seats in Washington, Minnesota and Maryland -- all states where dollars go further than they do inthe expensive New York and Philadelphia media markets.

During the subcommittee hearing, Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg asked Kean whether he supported a proposal to add $1 billion for port security to the next federal budget. Kean said he was, although he may not have known that the plan, which was rejected by the full Senate last week, was sponsored by his son's opponent, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez. The Menendez amendment would have required 100% screening of all cargo going through the ports.

Democratic Assemblyman Reed Gusciora is calling for tougher penalties for people who hunt while drinking: the Gusciora Drunken Hunting Act of 2006 raises the fine for HWI from $50 to $350, and and calls for a 45-day jail term if someone is hurt. The new proposal was timed just as Vice President Richard Cheney visited New Jersey in support of Tom Kean's campaign for the United States Senate.