Condi Rice? Don't Bet on it... (Or do? Updated)

Updated 7/13/2012 7:10 PM: Charles Johnson at Breitbart thinks Condi Rice will be the pick. He makes a decent case, and Rice's recent political activities certainly raise suspicion, but I'm still not so sure. I'm still liking Jindal because of his health policy experience and incredible background (though Rice's background is great too), and Palash Ghosh at IBT agrees. Maggie Gallagher, meanwhile, says that Mike Huckabee should be picked because of his Evangelical ties. Others want straight talker Chris Christie, while the Rubio talk has slowed down considerably. (And, perhaps, the Condi announcement was meant to drop remove some pressure from Rubio so he becomes "fresh" again?) But the again, if Rice were a trial balloon, Drudge's online (and unscientific, of course) poll had the Rice pick winning approval from 64% of voluntary respondents, and Sarah Palin giving a thumbs up.

Original Post

Twitter and the blogosphere erupted last night when Drudge blasted an "exclusive" that Dr. Condi Rice, former Bush Secretary of State, had jumped to the top of Romney's Veep list.

Don't bet on it. There would be practically no upside to picking Dr. Rice. Her main area of expertise is foreign policy, an area where Americans place practically no value of their vote into. She is "mildly" pro-choice, which is a non-starter for the base. While her views are somewhat libertarian in most areas, she often comes off as sounding moderate. She has never debated before. She has never campaigned before. Voters are concerned about the economy and healthcare, two areas where she adds absolutely nothing to the discussion. Oh, and she is tied to the Bush Administration, big time. Given all that, her selection would be attacked as being solely based on gender and racial identity. Conservatives shouldn't pander.

Also, figure that the VP pick is likely still a few weeks away. At this stage in 2000, Dick Cheney wasn't even listed in the top tier of potential VP choices for George W. Bush, but Tom Ridge (former PA Governor), John McCain, and Colin Powell were. That same year, Joe Lieberman was more of a surprise pick for Al Gore, as most of the speculation floated around Dianne Feinstein and Russ Feingold, US Senators from CA and WI, respectively. In 2008, Sarah Palin came out of nowhere in the final days of the process. In fact, given how quick and unprepared the whole GOP VP episode was in 2008, it seems likely that the move was rushed shortly after Obama picked Biden to be his runnig-mate. And as for Biden, everyone was certain that it was going to be an Obama-Clinton unity ticket, right? (And yes, Drudge flashed very similar headlines.)

So, given the randomness of the announcement, I'd guess the float of Rice was either pure speculation, or a move to throw the media off for good fun, and keep interest in the process high. My guess is the pick will eventually be Bobby Jindal, and hope it is. Few people are talking about him right now, and he has been fairly low key. Both of those raise some flags. There's a chance the VP already knows who he (or she) is, and is prepping for the national stage. Let's hope this is the case, because they will need all the prep they can get.