Rice goes against the grain of the conservative wing of her party in that she is staunchly pro-choice and she believes in same-sex unions, two things that Romney and the GOP are ardently in opposition of, reports radaronline.com.
Despite her public pronouncements to the contrary, Rice, the former national security advisor and secretary of state under President George W. Bush, had given in to the wishes of her party to run. She had been voted by the party as the most popular choice to run as VP, by far. She is widely respected as well as admired among Republican voters. And Rice had already been vetted by Romney’s team and had turned over her tax and financial records.
Most of all, Romney desperately wanted Rice as his running mate for several important reasons, the source close to the Romney camp said.
“Mitt thought she would add much needed foreign policy experience to the ticket, thinks she is incredibly bright and he knew she would help with the all-important female vote and African American support. Obama enjoys a considerable advantage over Romney with women voters and Obama has an overwhelming edge with the black electorate. Add to that the fact she is a gifted speaker and the Romney-Rice ticket would have been very formidable and intimidating to the Obama-Biden team.
“However, Mitt’s advisers talked him out of it because Condi is pro-choice and she isn’t willing to change her position on the controversial issue. Condi also supports same-sex civil unions which again, put her at odds with Romney. Mitt had a hard time getting the ultra conservative support of the GOP and was told if he picked Condi that would immediately be lost and so he ultimately picked Congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate.”
As it stands, Rice will return to ultra-prestigious Stanford University in Northern California, where she is a professor in the graduate business school and keeping an eye out for public office in the very near future.
“Condoleezza is definitely leaning toward running for governor of California. She wasn’t upset or surprised that she wasn’t picked to be Romney’s running mate,” the source told RadarOnline.
“She will continue to stump for him but she is very excited about the prospect of running for elected office for the first time in her life. California still has very high unemployment and companies are leaving the Golden State because of very high taxes and regulations. Condi’s position on social issues makes her a very viable candidate.”
