Rice denies plans to run for VP without closing door on idea

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday she planned to return to academics in California next year without closing the door on suggestions she might run for vice president.

Rice, 53, began by praising Republican presidential candidate John McCain when reporters asked for an airtight denial to rumors she hoped to campaign as his running mate in the November election.

"Let me just say, first of all, that Senator McCain is an extraordinary American, a really outstanding leader and obviously a great patriot. That said, I am going back to Stanford," Rice said.

Her spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on Monday that Rice was on leave from Stanford University in California, where she is a tenured professor in political science,...