So that whole Condi's Campaigning for Veep boomlet was a big load of nothing. It turns out the whole reason for the story was the fact that Condi attended Grover Norquist's Wednesday meeting at ATR. This means she's actively campaigning for Veep??? In what universe does that make sense? Political officials attend that meeting for a variety of reasons, but if just being there means you're throwing your name in the Veepstakes list, we've got to make it a helluva lot longer.
As John Fund writes in the latest WSJ Political Diary:
The man who created a mini-political earthquake still can't get over how quickly news travels today. GOP strategist Dan Senor set political commentators all over the country buzzing on Sunday when he appeared on ABC's "This Week" to report that Secretary of State Condi Rice "has been actively campaigning" to be John McCain's vice presidential running-mate...Mr. Senor is an unabashed admirer of Ms. Rice but says he received no encouragement from her in making his comments.
He says the best evidence that Ms. Rice is interested in the job was her recent appearance before Grover Norquist's weekly Wednesday meeting of conservative leaders in Washington -- what Mr. Senor says is "the first time a secretary of state has visited the Wednesday meeting." He adds that many Republicans believe John McCain would be best served by picking someone "who people instantly say, the second they see that announcement, 'I get it. That person could be president tomorrow.'" From all reports, Ms. Rice made a very favorable impression at the meeting, drawing accolades from Mr. Norquist, who lauded her conservative positions on taxes and gun rights.