Vote '08

Condoleezza Rice has reportedly been sending signals that she’s interested in the Vice Presidential nomination for John McCain. (UPDATE, A DAY LATER: She’s denied the report.)

Details, plus pros & cons, after the jump.

ABC News.com is reporting:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is actively courting the vice presidential nomination, Republican strategist Dan Senor said.

“Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this,” Senor said this morning on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

According to Senor, Rice has been cozying up to the Republican elite.

“There’s this ritual in Washington: The Americans for Tax Reform, which is headed by Grover Norquist, he holds a weekly meeting of conservative leaders — about 100, 150 people, sort of inside, chattering, class types,” Senor said. “They all typically get briefings from political conservative leaders. Ten days ago, they had an interesting visit — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — the first time a secretary of state has visited the Wednesday meeting.”

Senor explained that Rice’s history in public office would make her a prime candidate, especially in light of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s emphasis on experience throughout his campaign.

“What the McCain campaign has to consider is whether or not they want to pick a total outsider, a fresh face, someone a lot younger than him, a governor who people aren’t that familiar with,” Senor said. “The challenge they’re realizing is that they’ll have to have to spend 30 to 45 days, which they won’t have at that point, educating the American public about who this person is.

“The other category is someone who people instantly say, the second they see that announcement, ‘I get it, that person could be president tomorrow,’” Senor added. “Condi Rice is an option.”

All of this, however, was news to John McCain (per the New York Times):

“I missed those signals,” Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign plane en route to Kansas City.

Nonetheless, Mr. McCain took a few moments to compliment Ms. Rice. “I think she’s a great American, I think there’s very little that I can say that isn’t anything but the utmost praise for a great American citizen, who served as a role model to so many millions of people in this country and around the world,” Mr. McCain said, adding that “her overall record is very, very meritorious.”

‘S TAKE:

• On the one hand, it’s a politically shrewd choice, & one that definitely deserves serious consideration. The Democratic ticket will make history regardless; putting Dr. Rice on the Republican ticket would neutralize a large portion of that ‘buzz factor.’
• On the other hand, if McCain is out to make this election about foreign policy (& he –rightly– is attempting to do so), saddling one of the most ineffective National Security Advisers in our nation’s history onto his ticket, giving voters a reminder of the bad decisions made from 2003-2006 in Iraq, is not really a plus. [It's not all Condi's fault; Cheney & Rumsfeld worked quite successfully to shut out any attempt to shape a foreign policy that differed in any way from their own.] & Rice is nothing if not a cheerleader for the current President, who comes nowhere close to deserving it.

’twill be fun to see play out, though!

What’s your take? Would Condi make a good VP? Weigh in with a comment!

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