UPDATE: McCain-Rice '08? Condi Says No Way

UPDATE: Condoleezza Rice says she has plans to head West after her time as secretary of State - not plans to be vice president.

PREVIOUS: The "Great Mentioner" in the John McCain vice presidential sweepstakes has spoken. According to Dan Senor, former spokesman for the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants her name included in the mix.

On ABC's "This Week," Senor spilled the beans:

Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this. There's this ritual in Washington: The Americans for Tax Reform, which is headed by Grover Norquist, he holds a weekly meeting of conservative leaders -- about 100, 150 people, sort of inside, chattering, class types. They all typically get briefings from political conservative leaders. Ten days ago, they had an interesting visit -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- the first time a secretary of state has visited the Wednesday meeting.

In my past life as a Republican activist, I was part of that weekly ritual. It's ironic that Rice would state her case before Grover given his role in mobilizing opposition to her predecessor, Colin Powell. In 1995, Grover, Pat Buchanan and other conservative leaders held a news conference and told Powell: Don't even think about running for President.

In any case, no one mentioned Rice's availability to McCain:

I missed those signals. I think she's a great American, I think there's very little that I can say that isn't anything but the utmost praise for a great American citizen, who served as a role model to so many millions of people in this country and around the world.

While she may be "a great American," Rice would give McCain some help that he doesn't need. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider observed:

I think it would be very difficult move for John McCain to make because it instantly fulfills exactly the argument that Democrats are presenting, that if you elect John McCain, what you're going to get is a third term of George W. Bush...Is that what he wants to run on?