I used to agree, but after seeing http://www.captainsquartersblog....ives/ 006215.php, I'm not entirely certain that Rice is any more electable than Clinton. 51% of poll respondents said they absolutely would not vote for Hillary Clinton -- but 46% of respondents said they absolutely would not vote for Condoleezza Rice.

The question is, was that 46% composed of hard-line Democrats who wouldn't consider voting for any Republican candidate, or does it include a pretty large number of moderates? With that high a percentage, it would almost have to be the latter.

It's just one poll and may be completely off. But if those numbers hold true, then Rice may not be electable and the Republican party might be better off running a different candidate.

Still, we'll see. That's still two years off. A lot can happen in two years.
Robin Munn | Homepage | 01.27.06 - 3:53 pm | #

Useful data. Thanks. Mine is a somewhat sentimental comment, as in: she might win and that would be cool, but either way, she'd shake things up on both sides and provide an interesting ride for all of us. I suspect that she will not run for reasons of her own.
Kobayashi Maru | Homepage | 01.27.06 - 4:16 pm | #

Oh yeah, I'd love to see her run if she had a decent chance of winning. But she's said in the past that she's not interested in being President, so I doubt it will ever happen.

I think that the 46% "No way, never" figure probably has a lot to do with her association with Bush. Bush is taking a lot of criticism right now over the NSA intercept program, and I think a lot of that is splashing over onto his former National Security Advisor and current Sec. of State. If she ran in 2008 with a platform that made it clear that she wasn't "Bush Jr." but her own woman, that would probably recoup quite a bit. Something like "I learned a lot from serving with President Bush, but there are some aspects of policy on which I disagree with him and would do things differently. For example, Social Security. I think we should..." (Or whatever issue). If she were to do something like that early in the campaign, it would send a very strong signal that she is her own woman and should be judged on her own merits, not on the merits of the man she served under for eight years.

However, I think the Rice-for-Prez bumper stickers will probably never be printed. A shame really.

My early-2005 predictions ("2008 is when we'll have our first female President, because the two candidates are going to be Hillary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice") are looking shakier by the minute...
Robin Munn | Homepage | 01.28.06 - 3:34 am | #