Is Condoleezza Rice Quietly Running for Vice President?

     Washington Times columnist Joseph Curl has penned a post in which he alleges that former George W. Bush  National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is “quietly campaigning” to be tapped for Vice President on the Republican presidential ticket.

Curl’s analysis offers no evidence to support his claim but he does offer extremely credible reasons for someone seeking her out as their running mate.

Curl’s reasoning focuses on somewhat shallow qualities such as her sex, race, ties to the South, and compelling story of a person whose ancestors were sharecroppers and whose family’s American history predates the Civil War.  While such information and qualities do not have a bearing on  a persons ability to lead, they do a play an undenniable role in politics where everything is perception.  And in the scenario put forth by Curl, perception would indeed be a potent weapon in the 2012 election.

According him, the selection of Rice “would be a giant chess move to counter the expected replacement of Vice President Joseph R. Biden with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Curl adds;

“Sure, the White House denies and denies, but that should really make any political watcher more suspicious. One White House insider even told me that the position swap was the only reason Mrs. Clinton joined the administration in the first place.”

If that were true Joseph Curls’ analysis claims that the addition of Condoleezza Rice to the Republican presidential ticket would  “dramatically change the dynamics of the 2012 election.”

He writes;

“she [Rice] would mute Democrats’ charges of racism among conservatives, especially tea party members. And her sex would likely prompt moderate women to take a serious look at the Republican ticket.”

That is indeed true, but ultimately, few people really vote for President based on the vice presidential nominee.  However, the selection of a running mate that is unacceptable to the base of a nominee’s Party could be lethal.  At least for some candidates.

If Mitt Romney, the still likely republican presidential nominee, did secure his position at the top of the ticket, his selection of Condoleezza Rice could easily cost him the election.

Rice is a pro-choice Republican and as such she Romney can not afford to seem to equivocate on the issue of abortion by selecting her as his running mate.  He will have hard enough time convincing conservatives that now that he has changed his position from pro-choice, to right-to-life, he is committed to to the sanctity of life .  Others may be able to get away with picking Condoleezza but the only ones who can would be those who have a long, consistent record in opposition to abortion.

When the name Condoleezza Rice came up as a potential running mate for conservative Mitch Daniels, he found himself on the receiving end of unpleasant accusations from many social conservatives, and that was despite his strong, unchanging opposition to abortion.

While anything is possible in 2012, I am not quite as confident that Rice will be a shoo-in for Vice President.  Not only do I have my doubts about exactly how much quiet campaigning Rice is doing the job, I have my doubts as to how much she really wants the job.  The record is ripe with evidence of her desire to become the  Commissioner of the NFL, but has little in the way of evidence to prove she wants to be Vice President of the United States.

She had no interest in becoming a candidate for President and until I see any definite moves by her for the job, I am not convinced that she has any interest in becoming a candidate for Vice President and columnist Curl should take note that this is not the first time Condoleezza Rice was reportedly quietly campaigning for Vice President.

In April of 2008, ABC News reported that Republican strategist Dan Senor made the same claim.

ABC reported;

“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.”

So while Joseph Curl reports with confidence that his prediction about Rice will now make her a natural for the Republican vice presidential nomination, I would suggest to readers that they wait to actually hear it from Condoleezza Rice, or at least until there is some evidence of her interest in a job with GOP more than the NFL.