Vice President Dick Cheney, who has gotten into a pretty good rhythm of telling jokes on himself near the end of his term, told a crowd at a Republican Party fundraiser in Tulsa, Olka., last night: "I don't care what you say, I'm not running again.''

Appearing there with Sen. Jim Inhofe, Cheney said: "Kim didn't mention that Sen. Clinton has taken to calling me Darth Vader... Actually, I asked my -- it was a little disturbing when that first happened -- I asked my wife, Lynne, the other day, 'But doesn't that bother you?'

"And she said, 'No, it humanizes you.'''

As low as the president and vice president - and the Democratic Congress for that matter - have fallen in public approval ratings, Cheney was downright bullish about the GOP's chances this year.

"I'm proud to note that four years ago, (President Bush) and I received more votes than any other presidential ticket in American history. We, for now, hold the record. But we won't mind at all if you set a new record in November, when you help elect John McCain as the United States president...

"The president and I look forward to helping our candidates, up and down the ticket, throughout this very important year. And the stakes are very high,'' Cheney said. "Whether the issue is the economy, or energy, or national security, the right answers are coming not from Democrats, but clearly from the Republican side of the aisle....

"John F. Kennedy once said, 'There is no way to maintain the frontiers of freedom without cost and commitment and risk.' We are learning this lesson once again, in these decisive early years of a new century. And when the history is written, it'll be said that we lived in a safer country, and a more hopeful world, because George Bush was President of these United States.''