There are 3 reasons why: 1) as the current Secretary of State she has the the international respect and expierence that most candidates who run for president don't have. 2) as an African-American woman, she has the possibility to be able to take votes away from two very important democratic bases, this will hurt the 2008 democratic candidate (ie. Hillary). 3)she can put California into the swing state arena. If you look at the county by county results from the 2004 presidential election you will see that California is turning into a red state. Now to put to rest those doubts that southerners won't vote for an African-American woman, this is a just plain stupid arguement, I might live in California but I am optimistic that the vast majority of people living in the south won't judge her qualifications based on her gender or the color of her skin. This is 2005 not 1965. This said it wouldn't surprise me to see her run for the U.S. Senate in California, if Diane Feinstien retires (she may be a democrat, but she has been a terrific U.S. senator), or she may run for Governor of California if Arnold decides not to run. Still I hold out the hope that she runs for president and then my dream ticket of Condelezza Rice (R-CA) and Mike Pence (R-Congressman of Indiana) for 2008.
