April 13 (Bloomberg) -- For years, the president and vice president could hardly go all the places Republicans wanted them. The vice president played best in the hinterlands where they like a little red meat with their rubber chicken, but both were gold on the stump.

With midterm elections looking ever dicier, the number of places the pair are welcome is dwindling to a precious few.

On Tuesday, deep inside the beltway in a baseball stadium filled with civic boosters grateful for his support of their fledgling team, Vice President Dick Cheney got booed throwing out the first pitch -- and that was before it hit the dirt.

President George W. Bush, flanked by two injured soldiers, did better on opening day in Cincinnati (slow, high and inside; crowd subdued). But then he's Mr. Popularity compared with Cheney, whose approval is in the 20's. At the Gridiron Club dinner last month, Bush joked that while some people wonder how his numbers got so low, Dick asks, ``What's your secret?''

This week, while Cheney was bouncing the ball short of home plate, Bush was trying to convince a carefully screened audience in Jefferson City, Missouri, that his prescription drug bill hasn't abandoned them to the mercies of private insurers and drug companies.

A Crapshoot

To the millions yet to sign up, the benefit is a multiform crapshoot that makes comparing free rollover minutes to the friends-and-family cell-phone plan look easy. You only win if you figure out which insurer covers current medications -- AND those you may yet need -- at the lowest cost.

Approval of the drug plan is at 37 percent, matching Bush's popularity on a good day. The plan's a hard sell, but it will probably sell better than the ``plan for victory'' in Iraq that Bush touted on visits last month to Cleveland and Wheeling, West Virginia.

For a Republican candidate in this November's elections, the challenge is to get Bush and Cheney to extract money from the hard-core base without getting saddled with the entire Bush- Cheney record on Iraq, Iran, Katrina, leaks, corruption and oceans of red ink.

Cheney went to New Jersey March 21 on a fundraising mission. The candidate he took the trip for, Tom Kean (son of the former governor who chaired the Sept. 11 commission) didn't show up until Cheney left.

Just Taking the Money

Rich Galen, former director of Newt Gingrich's political action committee, says Kean must have decided ``to take country roads backwards on a 500cc motor scooter so as to miss Cheney.'' Kean pleaded heavy traffic to skeptical reporters who'd encountered none themselves. Says Galen: ``Invite the guy, don't invite the guy. But don't diss him and take the money.''

But that's what's happening. Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had Bush at a private fundraiser in Pittsburgh recently but wouldn't be caught with him publicly. Ditto Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, who took the cash Bush raised but couldn't fit the president's speech at the U.S. Naval Academy into his schedule.

Silvio Berlusconi may well wish he'd kept his relationship with Bush a little more under wraps. Italy's prime minister-for- life, Berlusconi -- the Rupert Murdoch, if not the Putin, of Italy -- lost to Romano Prodi, who favors more independence from the U.S.

Welcoming Laura

In February, Berlusconi reveled in a visit from Laura Bush, whose only other stop in Rome was to see Pope Benedict XVI. On a trip to Washington last month, Berlusconi addressed a joint session of Congress -- in Italian -- and got a standing ovation from the Republican majority. In an Oval Office visit, Bush all but endorsed him.

Bush may yet prove helpful to Berlusconi, who is threatening to demand a recount. Florida Republicans with experience in such matters would no doubt be glad to send over embattled Senate candidate and ex-Bush recount specialist Katherine Harris. Or Justice Scalia.

When a president's ratings lag at home, he's usually still welcomed abroad. During Monica, Bill Clinton became an international houseguest, lifting his mood and his ratings with every trip.

Bush has far fewer travel options. He was no help to ally President Jose Aznar of Spain, whose conservative government was recently defeated. Tony Blair, who essentially won re-election by announcing his retirement, would hardly throw open the door to 10 Downing Street. Last week visiting Britain, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recently admitted the U.S. made ``thousands'' of mistakes in Iraq, received the kind of treatment Cheney got at the ballpark in Washington.

Getting Lonelier

It's always lonely at the top, but rarely this lonely this early. With his staff and party in turmoil, Bush faces political house arrest. To break out, Bush would have to propel his own ratings well above 37 percent.

He might try resurrecting his lofty goal of a manned mission to Mars from his halcyon days in 2004. He'd be welcome there. Or, perhaps a more modest program to bring the commander-in-chief back down to earth. That's the voyage that would pay dividends, and it's about all NASA can still afford.

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 13, 2006 00:07 EDT