Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made it clear time and again she has no desire to run for president in 2008. But based on a poll of more than 11,000 readers of HUMAN EVENTS, the national conservative weekly, Rice is their choice to be the GOP’s nominee.
Rice leads 11 other potential candidates in the unscientific poll, which began tracking the Top 12 contenders for the Republican nomination on January 6, 2006. The poll is available on humanevents.com and was e-mailed to subscribers.
First Lady Laura Bush had mentioned Rice as a possible contender for the presidency when responding to a question about the first female president. Rice said last week she has no desire to seek the job. The Drudge Report revealed Wednesday that, according to a CNN/Gallup poll, 46% would oppose Rice.
But in the HUMAN EVENTS poll, with exactly 11,117 votes cast, Rice holds a sizeable lead over Virginia Sen. George Allen. Rice is winning with 34.74% of the vote. Allen is in second place at 20.9%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in third at 12.91%.
Rounding out the top five are former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 8.66% and Arizona Sen. John McCain with 6.19%.
Participants in the survey had the opportunity to offer a write-in candidate. Representatives Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) with 1.49% and Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.) with 0.89% led the way—outpolling even some of the candidates mentioned by name in the survey.
The complete results are below.
| Candidate | Percentage |
| Condoleezza Rice | 34.74% |
| George Allen | 20.9% |
| Newt Gingrich | 12.91% |
| Rudy Giuliani | 8.66% |
| John McCain | 6.8% |
| Mitt Romney | 4.2% |
| Sam Brownback | 2.55% |
| Bill Frist | 1.22% |
| Mike Huckabee | 0.91% |
| Chuck Hagel | 0.37% |
| Tom Ridge | 0.30% |
| George Pataki | 0.26% |
| Other | 6.8% |
Commenting on the results, HUMAN EVENTS Political Editor John Gizzi said:
"As a student of history, this is a sharp reminder to me of Dwight D. Eisenhower, easily the most admired American, being encouraged to run for the Republican AND the Democratic nomination for president in 1948 and finally having to rule out a race for either in no uncertain terms. Just as Ike had to tell two of the sons of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who were urging him to run, 'no' in no uncertain terms, Dr. Rice may have to do the same with Laura Bush.
"Taking this analogy further," Gizzi continued, "does this mean Dr. Rice will be ready in 2012, just as Gen. Eisenhower was finally ready in '52?"
HUMAN EVENTS will continue to track the Republican field in advance of 2008. As the 62-year-old conservative newspaper of record in Washington, D.C., its readers have helped propel Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan to the national spotlight.
Who will fill that role in 2008? Stay tuned to find out.
