BISMARCK - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press" show Sunday that she's not interested in being on the 2008 Republican presidential ticket.
But Fargo's Crystal Dueker and others in Americans For Dr. Rice, a national group that plans to draft Rice in 2008, aren't discouraged.
'That's why we call it our Eisenhower plan," quipped Dueker, co-chairwoman of the group.
She's referring to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, despite silence about party preference, allowed himself to be drafted as the Republican presidential nominee in 1952.
The discussion on Sunday's NBC show was sparked by Americans for Dr. Rice buying a 60-second TV commercial shown on a New Hampshire station during the Sept. 27 premier of "Commander in Chief," in which Geena Davis plays the first female president.
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"Tim, I'm flattered that people think of me in that way," Rice told host Tim Russert, "I'm not somebody who wants to run for office. ... I'm doing what I need to do, which is to try and promote American foreign policy and American interests, the president's democracy agenda at an extraordinary time. And to the degree that I can do that across the world, that's what I'd better keep doing."
When Russert pressed her again, asking, "So you absolutely will not accept a position on the ticket in 2008?" she responded, "Tim, I don't see it - I don't know how many ways to say no. ... I don't know how many ways to tell people that this - I have no interest in being a candidate for anything."
Russert told her, "No interest is different than no, absolutely no."
Rice has denied interest for several months. Dueker and other supporters believe Rice makes those denials because it would be unseemly to acknowledge an interest in the president's job while serving a president's administration.
"We're not talking to Condi," Dueker said Monday. "I'm not asking her permission. We're just doing it."
The television ad shown in New Hampshire is playing this week on the ABC station in Des Moines, Iowa, including on "Good Morning America," "The View" and tonight's "Commander in Chief" episode. It will continue during the evening news on WOI next week.
Dueker's group also has radio commercials planned.
The draft-Rice group continues to generate news stories in national and international newspapers and television news reports. Dueker said BBC Radio has scheduled an interview with her today. She will travel to Des Moines for this weekend's GOP Fest, where she and Drake University students will staff an Americans for Rice booth.
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Readers can reach Forum reporter Janell Cole at (701) 224-0830
