Small speech disfluencies (aka Freudian slips) can be revealing. Freud had a complex theory about just why, and modern cognitive psychology comes to the same conclusion via a different theoretical route. Thoughts are triggered along different pathways when a speech utterance begins to be generated, and sometimes -- especially when one is under stress -- a different thought than the one intended comes out.
Tonight, in his closing statement, Cheney meant to say something like "the next challenge for the president." What he said (before catching himself) was,"the next president..."
Next president? That would be John Kerry.
In his inner thoughts, Cheney expects to lose.