Why the GOP can't stop dreaming of a Condoleezza Rice candidacy

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Still, Rice supporters point to her as the kind of candidate – an African-American woman, a southerner, whose childhood friend was killed in the bombings of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 — who could give the GOP a much-needed facelift.

“Without any shadow of a doubt she is a star in the party,” said Ron Christie, a Republican political strategist and former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. “She is brilliant, she is very personable and she knows her way around the corridors of power better than most people in the world, let alone within the Republican Party.”

“Her personal story and background [would be] real value added to any ticket,” added Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “She can articulate what it was like growing up in the south at a time of transition for America, and talk about how she overcame, and how that’s the spirit that Republicans have fought for — overcoming those obstacles put in place by government, or by others, to access the American dream. I think that’s a powerful story, and I know there’s a lot of love for Condi out there, irrespective of her views on social issues, and I think there’s a lot of genuine respect for her. I think if Romney were to pick her, there would be a tremendous rallying around her.”

But neither Christie nor Steele believes that will happen, mainly because they say Rice doesn’t want the job.

“I take Condi at everything that she’s said publicly at face value,” Christie says. “She has said she has no interest in running for elective office. One thing that she has told me and others is that her dream job is to be commissioner of the NFL.” Christie adds that “from firsthand conversations I’ve had with people at Stanford who work with her, she loves what she’s doing (as a political science professor and senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution) and she has no desire to run for office.”

Steele agrees that the job Rice wants is as the leader of the National Football League, not the free world. And he adds that she is savvy enough to understand that she is probably not what the present Republican Party is looking for.

“Condi believes very much in the idea of public service and I think that if she felt in her heart that she had something in this moment to give to the country as part of a Romney administration, then I think that if the call would come she’d take it,” Steele said. “But she’s also a very pragmatic woman and she recognizes the politics that drive a decision for good or bad, and she doesn’t want to be a part of anyone’s political narrative.”

Steele is skeptical of the idea that Republicans could improve their image with black voters by adding Rice to the ticket, even if it were on the table.

“It’s not going to get done because you slap a photograph of Condi Rice on [a] placard and black folks are going to say all is forgiven,” Steele said of the party’s past failure to do more than cosmetic outreach to the black community – something he says he tried to reverse as RNC chair. “We have to work at building this relationship back.”

Christie disagrees that the GOP has a racial problem, pointing to the election of Nikki Hailey as South Carolina governor, and Allen West and Tim Scott to Congress from Florida and South Carolina, respectively.

“The party has consistently sought to improve its standing with minority communities,” Christie said. “I honestly don’t think anyone would look at [Rice] and say she can solve our problem with women or minorities, because we don’t have a problem with women and we have been aggressive about seeking to appeal to all people, regardless of race.”

Christie says that it’s Rice’s unique qualities that are attracting attention to her as a possible vice president.

“Her personality and experience would make her a qualified candidate for any elected office,” Christie says. “I’m glad to see that people are viewing her as a viable candidate to become the next vice president, even though I don’t think it’s a job that she wants.”

On that, Christie and Steele agree.

“If the Romney people were serious and not just using her as a midsummer distraction, as some have said in the media, I’m sure they walked away saying she mixes up the conversation,” said Steele. “She’s definitely one of the smartest, best prepared people out there to be vice president.”

Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport