And he has been considered one of the reasonable, moderate democrats. This is the picture of the future. Except Hillary, of course, who is moving to the middle. Interesting to see what she does with Dr. Rice's nomination.
If Hilly votes for her, that will be raised if Rice is on a ticket opposing her, which I don't think is likely at this point, but certainly possible - for this to happen: 1. Hilly has to be on the Dem ticket, and 2. Rice has to be on the GOP ticket.
So everytime she would rail against her opponents, people can point out that she herself voted for Rice. How bad could Rice be? That's a pretty stinging soundbite.
If Hilly votes against her, it could be depictaed as her short-circuting a possible political rival. Not as bad as the former scenario, but not good either.
Honestly, I don't think Hilly or Rice will be on presidential tickets in 2008.
If I were Hilly, I'd abstain from the vote.