The real question about Condi running, or any other Pubbie, will have to wait till after the 06 election..Prez will spend some more capital..take down a few more Dem senators...if Jeb is truly out in 08..as I thik likely..then Bush will have to decide if he wants to remain neutral..or to annoint a successor..easiest way is to have Cheney "retire"..then name his possible/probable successor..
One of the things I have understood from the beginning is that Babs hasn't been acting independently. She's an in-law of the Hilly, don't you know. She's beating up on Condi because the Missus wants her to beat up on Condi to scare Condi off.
What neither the Missus nor Babs realize yet is that Condi knows this, as do Bush and Karl Rove, who probably realized what was up when the Democrats asked for a delay back in December. Condi Rice doesn't scare easily. As a matter of fact, Condi Rice doesn't scare at all, which is what they don't understand over at Chappaqua. They think that she's just another black girl who can be compromised. They're f*#king fools, eductated fools at that, who don't realize what they are about to take on.
Bush has put Rice in the optimal position to be the first among equals in his cabinet. The active phase of the Iraq campaign is over, while the taming of the insurgency and the campaign to spread democratic ideals will become more and more a State Department purview. Expect Rice to be all over the place. If she can pull off a Kissingerian understanding on Israel=Palestine and on the Golan Heights, she'd have quite a notch or two in her belt as 2006 rolls around.
Be Seeing You,
Chris