Rice Allegedly Pursuing Republican Vice-presidential Bid

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, a former Pentagon spokesman, said in a television interview that "Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning" for the vice-presidential nomination.

As evidence, he pointed to the fact that Rice had attended one of the regular weekly meetings of Americans for Tax Reform, a salon of prominent conservative figures that has never enjoyed the company of a secretary of state before.

McCain was dead pan when confronted with the suggestion that Rice was putting herself forward as his potential VP partner, 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 presumptive Republican presidential candidate 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.

His choice is certain to be heavily influenced by whether he is competing against Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in November.

Rice would come with strong elements in her favour, as well as several potential handicaps.

Her instant name recognition among Republican voters and independents would be a major advantage, as Senor pointed out saying McCain may not want to spend 30 or 45 days of the election campaign introducing an unknown vice-presidential candidate to the public.

On the negative side of the score sheet, she inevitably carries some of the baggage of the Bush presidency, which McCain may be keen to avoid as he seeks to present himself as his own politician.

As a member of the administration deeply involved in the early planning of the Iraq war, at which point she was national security adviser in the White House, she also bears some of the blame for the initial handling of the post-invasion which McCain himself has sharply criticized.

As speculation swirls around McCain, the road to the Democratic nomination continues to be a long, hard grind.

While the focus of campaigning may be Pennsylvania, which holds its primary on April 22, the real political business is being done with the super delegates who hold the key to the nomination.

Obama has continued to successfully whittle at Clinton's dominance among the senior party figures and officials who make up the 800 super delegates.

Today he notched up another super delegate vote - his 69th - when Margaret Campbell, a Democratic member of the state assembly in Montana announced her backing.

Of the 800, only 330 have yet to cast their vote, according to the New York Times. As the energy in the election continues to veer towards Obama, he has managed to cut Clinton's previously commanding lead to just 34 of the super delegates.

Even if Clinton takes Pennsylvania convincingly, and all other 9 contests that conclude in Montana and South Dakota on June 3, she will be unable to amass sufficient delegate votes to make up her deficit compared with Obama, which currently stands at more than 134 pledged delegates according to Associated Press.