The answer is still no

Secretary Condoleezza Rice says no towards the idea of her running for the Presidency in 2008 or even being VP.

Before leaving for Africa, the first lady predicted the United States soon would have a female president — a Republican, and maybe even Rice.

"I think it will happen for sure," Mrs. Bush said Friday about a woman in the Oval Office.

In the year since becoming secretary of state, Rice has repeatedly dismissed the notion of running for the Republican nomination to succeed her current boss, President Bush.

Asked about the first lady's comments Sunday, Rice laughed and good naturedly answered the recurring question about her prospects for president in 2008. No dice, she said — for the umpteenth time.

"Obviously, it's flattering when people say things like that. The first lady is not only a terrific person, she's my friend. And I was honored that she said that, of course. She's a wonderful person," Rice said.

"But I've spoken to this. I know what I'm good at, I know what I want to do and that's not it."

How about vice president?

"The two are the same," she said with a grin and a shake of her head.

I believe Sec Rice is sincere when she says this. She has never shown any past in running for political office. Ann Althouse notes that Rice was quoted in the present tense. Dr. Taylor at Poliblog sees a political novice having a hard time being taken seriously as a Presidential candidate. He also does an excellent recounting of novices running for President in recent memory.

There is one scenario, and I briefly touched on it with my 2006 predictions back on Dec. 31st. VP Cheney has a bad ticker, no question about it. If Cheney were to die or have to resign due to health reasons, Sec. Rice would probably be on the short list of potential VPs to replace Cheney. If she were to become then all bets are off. The Vice-Presidency has been used as a stepping stone to be President or at least to run for it. Nelson Rockefeller didn't in 1976 however after being nominated by President Ford.

Anyway, if any of us bloggers could sucessfully predict the future, we'd be making our living doing something different entirely. LOL.

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