Date:09/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/09/stories/2008040955061400.htm

International

Rice, McCain’s running mate?

Ed Pilkington

New York: Condoleezza Rice has become the subject of renewed speculation that she is a front-runner to become the running mate of John McCain in the November presidential elections, after a Republican strategist claimed that she was actively campaigning for the job.

Dan Senor, former Pentagon spokesman, said in a television interview, “Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning” for the vice-presidential nomination. As evidence, Mr. Senor pointed to the fact that Ms. Rice had attended one of the regular weekly meetings of Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington salon of conservative figures that has never enjoyed the company of a secretary of state before. Mr. McCain was deadpan when confronted with the suggestion that Ms. Rice was putting herself forward, saying: “I missed those signals.” But he did praise her as a “great American ... who served as a role model to so many millions of people in this country and around the world.”

The Republican presidential nominee has shown no urgency in selecting his running mate, as he is likely to want to watch the Democrats complete their nomination process before deciding. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008