VP Condi?

A few weeks ago I posted about potential veep candidates for McCain, mostly parroting what Bob Novak had opined on the subject. 

I stuck to the list of oft-repeated suspects: Rob Portman, Governor Mark Sanford, Governor Charlie Crist, and Governor Tim Pawlenty.  I gave zero consideration to Condi Rice because she has said, time and again, that she has no interest in elected office.   And has said it rather convincingly; seemed like the only job she ever publicly lobbied for was commissioner of the NFL.

And now this: Republican strategist Dan Senor on This Week with George Stephanopoulos saying "Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this."  Senor's proof:  he cited her attendance at a weekly meeting of 150 or so Republican insiders -- an unusual step, he noted, for a sitting Secretary of State.

For whatever it's worth, McCain himself responded to the story by saying "I did not hear that. I missed those signals."  In the next breadth he praised her, however, gushing  "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."

It's hard to tell how much weight should be given to Senor's observation.  Perhaps McCain's people sent him out there to float a trial balloon, or maybe it was Condi's trial balloon.  Who knows.   One thing is for sure:  it'll be worth keeping a close eye on this development.  Condi as veep could be a game-changer.