Draft Condi movement

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A variation of a campaign button being put out by Americans For Rice.

The "Draft Condi" (or "Draft Rice") movement is a grassroots effort to convince Condoleezza Rice to run for president in the 2008 election.

Condoleezza Rice is currently the United States Secretary of State. She is also one of the highest profile women in the United States government, and the highest-ranking African-American woman in American history. She would be the first non-Caucasian and the first female president if elected.

1 Americans For Dr. Rice
2 Poll Results
3 Supporters
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Americans For Dr. Rice

In January of 2005, Miami, FL, physician, Dr. Richard Mason launched the Americans For Dr. Rice "527" political organization.

The group, Americans For Dr. Rice, purportedly has more than 4000 active members across the United States, and around the world. The movement has recently gained much publicity as a result of prominent members like Jessie Jane Duff, Dr. Mason, Shari Demers, and Jeffrey Jenkins being featured in interviews and on talk shows. They have been featured several times on FOX News, CNN, and NBC, as well as other notable networks. As the Draft Rice movement has grown and expanded, they have been seen at various political conferences and conventions, such as the SRLC (Southern Republican Leadership Conference), New Hampshire's "Lincoln-Reagan Dinner", Nevada's "Freedom Fest," the National Federation of Republican Women conferences, and at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), which is called "the largest gathering of conservative political activists in the country."

Since Americans For Dr. Rice's incorporation in early 2005, the group has been responsible for numerous television and radio ads in at least Iowa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Florida. Draft Rice supporters have already set up and attended major events and rallies in states like North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee.

[edit] Poll Results

Referencing the successful "Draft Ike" movement that put Eisenhower into office in 1953, the Draft Rice movement has been galvanized by the positive response it has received around the country. After polls in important states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Florida showed Dr. Rice with a strong, but hypothetical, lead, the campaign gained a great deal of support. "Condistas," as the 'Condi' Rice supporters call themselves, point to surveys like the WNBC-Marist poll, which places Dr. Rice as the number one Republican candidate for 2008, in league with potentials Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. John McCain.

Other surveys have also placed Dr. Rice in the top tier of Republican potentials, including Gallup, Zogby, Rasmussen, and FOX News, while many, including NewsMax, Ruffini, Marist, and Diageo/Hotline have her as the GOP frontrunner. In fact, the polling company, Strategic Vision, has conducted polls in a dozen different states, and on average, almost half of voters said they would like to see Dr. Rice in the 2008 race, while less than a third said she should sit it out.

Though some polls have shown Hillary Clinton or John Edwards defeating Dr. Rice, many indicate that she may yet be a strong Republican contender for 2008. Zogby America Poll shows Dr. Rice defeating Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Mark Warner, while the American Polling Research Institute survey gives Rice a 52-47 lead over Clinton and a 53-32 over Warner. FOX News and Rasmussen also show that Dr. Rice could defeat Sen. John Kerry, should he choose to run again in 2008.

[edit] Supporters

Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race

Dick Morris, a former Clinton adviser, recently published a book entitled "Condi Vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race," in which he outlines the reasons why Dr. Rice would be the best candidate to keep Hillary Clinton from winning the presidential election in 2008.

Morris is not the only prominent figure who has endorsed, or hinted at endorsing, Dr. Rice in a possible presidential bid. RunRice2008.com has compiled a list of nationally and internationally influential figures who have supported the idea of Rice running for president. The list includes such names as: