2012 Decoded

The political world was abuzz last night after the Drudge Report reported that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a frontrunner for Romney's running mate spot. The leak was immediately treated with a healthy dose of skepticism from the political class: Rice has said she's not interested in the job, she has no political experience, she supports abortion rights in a party that regards that as a near-litmus test, and hawks don't have fond memories of her foreign policy record in the Bush administration.  Many went a stop further, mocking Drudge's track record in predicting the veepstakes (he hyped Frank Keating in 2000, Dick Gephardt in 2004, and Evan Bayh in 2008).  And pundits noted the suspicious timing of the leaked news, right after Romney faced tough new questions about the timing of his tenure at Bain Capital.

(PICTURES: Romney's Possible VP Picks)

But the floating of Rice sounds a lot more like a trial balloon from the Romney campaign than deliberately bad information that Drudge cooked up. Romney Campaign Manager Matt Rhoades is famously close to Drudge, suggesting there's a deliberate strategy at play here for the campaign. 

And there are reasons why Romney would consider Rice, if she was interested, for the position. She drew rave reviews for her in-depth foreign policy speech at Romney's Park City, Utah retreat last month, where she offered up a lot of red meat rhetoric against the president. Politically speaking, she could win over enough female voters, and perhaps cut a little into the African-American vote -- which could put Romney over the top. The conservative base is already so steamed with President Obama that a little apostasy from certain conservative corners might not make a big difference.