If anything, Rice should be Allen's VP running mate. Rice is very impressive, we all know that, but she's never put herself out there for elected office, and with the exception of Second Amendment issues, she's probably liberal on social issues. She supported racial preferences in the University of Michigan case (though to be fair, so did Bush when he sided with his buddy Alberto Gonzales over Ted Olson, and the party leadership is probably about to surrender on this as they have on immigration). And her comments on abortion haven't exactly been reassuring.
In a general election, it is easy to see Rice holding most of the red states IF her opponent is Hillary, but I don't think she'd necessarily be in a better position than Allen to hold Florida, or Ohio, or Nevada, or Iowa, or Colorado, or Arizona, or New Mexico.
The only way Rice (or McCain/Giuliani) would have a good chance at getting the nomination is if they promised to appoint Scalia/Thomas type judges to the Supreme Court. Of course, who knows how much stock will be put into such promises in the wake of Bush opting not to fulfill that very same promise with his first two SCOTUS picks (yeah I know, Roberts may be great, but he did not have as impressive a record as other candidates in terms of an identifiable originalist/strict constructionist track record).
If Rice were to run as a VP candidate with a conservative at the top of the ticket, and if that ticket won, then she'd obviously be in position to run at the top 8 years later. She is young enough to wait.
It is a bit disappointing to see Allen going along with some unnecessary hate crimes bill, but that's probably another lost cause. Its just near-impossible to use reason and logic in the face of something labeled a bill against 'hate'. Emotion will trump reason almost everytime. Otherwise, Allen seems as good or better than most of the other credible GOP candidates for 08.
Lets just hope that in 08 Iraq isn't a mess, and that the economy isn't weak, and that gas prices have come back down to a level that most Americans find comfortable; otherwise we could face the horror of President Hillary.
Well said and I agree with most of what you say. The only thing I hold concerning Condi is that she would smash Hillary into a grease spot on the pavement - in fact, the clintons would be reduced to absolute zeros since their leash on power would be completely nutralized.
"In a general election, it is easy to see Rice holding most of the red states.."
I agree with you she shouldn't head the ticket. Do you really think its a good idea for "President" to be the first campaign someone does?