A 2008 ticket for Ridge?

WASHINGTON - What a difference seven years can make.

And the difference could be huge for Tom Ridge.

In 2000, Ridge, who was then Pennsylvania governor, endorsed a fellow governor, George W. Bush, for president, disappointing Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), his old friend, who was also a presidential candidate.

When Bush won the nomination, Ridge was among a handful of contenders to be his running mate - and didn't reveal publicly until Dick Cheney was chosen that he had pulled out three weeks earlier.

Now Ridge has hopped on the McCain bandwagon, signing on as national cochairman of the campaign. But he has lost none of the coyness he displayed last time when it comes to the No. 2 job.

"I never say never, but it's probably unlikely," said Ridge, sitting in the office of the international consulting company he formed after resigning as head of the Department of Homeland Security in 2005.

"I just launched a business; there's more freedom outside the public realm," Ridge explained. "Right now, I don't care for how politics is being conducted in the country. But I didn't think I'd be governor or a cabinet secretary, so who knows what the future will bring."

Despite Ridge's distaste for the state of politics, his name remains a coveted political asset. "I think he would complement and be of value to almost any Republican presidential nominee," said Republican pollster and adviser Whit Ayres. "He was a popular, successful governor of one of the largest swing states in the country. He's probably popular enough to bring that state into the Republican column. That makes him a very valuable commodity."

Ridge's unhappiness with the current state of American politics has caused him to favor McCain as the Republican standard-bearer.

"The political world today is red and blue," Ridge said. "McCain is a red, white and blue guy. He's not a judgmental conservative. You're not disqualified from the party if you disagree with him on an issue or two."

In fact, Ridge's support of abortion rights is one key area of disagreement with the senator. Ridge noted that he has campaigned for a number of Republicans in Pennsylvania who oppose abortion, Rick Santorum being the latest example.

But Ridge agrees with McCain on Iraq, endorsing the administration's strategy to add more troops in an effort to make Baghdad secure.

"McCain and I accept the notion that we never had enough boots on the ground to begin with," Ridge said. "Shock and awe eliminated Saddam, but it didn't bring stability to the country. This is a last chance to create an environment where the political institutions can work and, at some point, someone will have to decide whether the strategy is working."

Ridge said that he can envision any of the current top tier of Republican candidates - former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and McCain - as president.

What sets McCain apart, in Ridge's view, is an ability to lead from his first day in office, an understanding of global issues, and a history of working with Democrats on campaign-finance legislation and other issues.

Nevertheless, McCain trails Giuliani in most early polls. He has been accused by moderates in both parties of pandering to the right in recent years - a reversal of his "straight talk" profile in 2000 in which he took on the religious right.

McCain skipped last week's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, a sign that he is trying to walk a fine line in dealing with the GOP's traditional base. Even Giuliani attended, though he supports abortion rights and gay rights.

"At the end of the day, McCain is a strong conservative, but he also looks across the aisle," Ridge said.

Both Ridge and McCain are decorated military veterans who were elected in 1982 to the House and became fast friends.

When Ridge decided to support Bush in 2000, he arranged to see McCain in his Senate office. The senator was visibly disappointed, Ridge recalled, but said politics was about choices and "you've made yours." They moved on to talk about their children; the relationship did not suffer.

"That's a huge measure of the man," Ridge said.

That decision would eventually lead to Ridge's role in the vice-presidential sweepstakes, in which he filled out a very detailed questionnaire for the Bush search team and told a national television audience on July 7, 2000, that he was being considered for the job.

Yet two days earlier, Ridge had informed search leader Cheney that he no longer wanted the No. 2 spot, because he didn't want to disrupt his family.

Ridge did not reveal this information until Cheney was picked in late July.

The Pennsylvania governor said at the time that the campaign had asked him to keep mum about his decision. Critics accused Bush of wanting to appear to be considering a more moderate, pro-abortion-rights Republican.

"I was kind of evasive for a week or two," Ridge admitted. "I had to respect the wishes of the campaign, but I knew it could be at some personal peril."

Now, among other considerations such as his new business - he says he advises firms and countries on strategy and security while declining to lobby for them - Ridge has decided to be more cautious. The first step is joining forces with his old buddy McCain.

"Every once in a while you get put in these positions where you are secondary to a larger cause," he said. "If you don't accept that notion, you probably shouldn't accept the job. It just goes with the territory."