USA TODAY International Edition
Buzz builds as Rice pitches for GOP
Some ask: Will she run for president?
She’s a former secretary of State who gives a great speech, has a well- known smile and is a hot political property: making campaign ads, rallying the party faithful, and, on Wednesday, keynoting a $ 1,000- a- plate Washington fundraiser.
Cue the 2016 speculation: Is Condoleezza Rice acting like a future candidate?
Rice, who served as secretary of State for President George W. Bush from 2005- 09, has been busy with Republican midterm politics all month.
First she headlined a March 6 fundraiser for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the University of Kentucky basketball arena. On March 15, she spoke to California Republicans at their state convention. On Monday, the super PAC American Crossroads went on TV with an ad starring Rice in support of Alaska Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Mark Begich. On Wednesday, she was the headliner at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner.
She also mentioned she likes the idea of the nation electing a female president. “I think it would be terrific. I really look forward to that day,” she told Parade magazine earlier this month.
Others have sparked more speculation based on less. One trip to Iowa or New Hampshire and she’d be at the top of the list of potential candidates. There is no clear front- runner for the Republican nomination for 2016, and the GOP has emphasized its desire to appeal to women and minority voters.
“It’s important for the party to be able to have many different faces out there,” says political consultant Ashley O’Connor, a former Bush and Romney campaign ad director. “I’m thrilled to see her out there. If she ever decided to run for anything, I would volunteer.”
No speculation necessary, says Ari Fleischer, former Bush press secretary. “I recommend you conclude that it’s Condi being Condi,” he says. “I do not think she is running for president. She is not. She is being very helpful to the cause as she always has been.”
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Rice raised money for 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney and wowed Republicans with a prime- time speech at their convention. “This is nothing new for Condi; she’s always done it,” Fleischer says.
Rice’s speech at the 2012 Re- publican convention “really opened up a whole new vein of blood for her, in terms of people saying this is an important and powerful voice in the Republican Party,” says GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway.
Unlike former secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rice has said she has no plans to run for any office. “You’re not going to get that chance” to vote for her for president, she told Parade.