GOP STRATEGIST: RICE WORKING TOWARD V.P. BID

Secretary of State Rice is laying the groundwork for a possible run for vice president, a Republican strategist, Dan Senor, said yesterday. “Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this,” Mr. Senor told ABC’s “This Week.”

Mr. Senor said Ms. Rice’s courtship of the Republican nomination for vice president was evident from her attendance at a weekly gathering of conservatives organized by Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. “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,” Mr. Senor said.

On the campaign trail Sunday, Mr. McCain said he was not aware of Ms. Rice’s purported interest in being his running-mate. “I did not hear that. I missed those signals,” the Arizona senator said, according to ABC. “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.”

SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES SEEK TO BLOCK ROMNEY AS V.P.

The former Massachusetts governor who trailed Senator McCain in the Republican presidential contest, Mitt Romney, is an unacceptable choice for vice president, prominent social conservatives argue in a newspaper ad running in cities Mr. McCain is scheduled to visit. “The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts make him utterly unacceptable as a vice presidential choice,” the ad says. “If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party and either stay away from the polls this November or only vote down the ticket. … Willard Mitt Romney is a deal breaker.”

RENDELL: SUPERDELEGATES SHOULD REASSSESS STANCE IN JUNE

A top supporter of Senator Clinton, Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania, said yesterday that superdelegates should consider making Mrs. Clinton the nominee if she does well in “crucial electoral states,” even if she lags in the popular vote and the overall delegate tally. “If, in late June, Hillary Clinton is still running far more strongly against McCain in those states than Barack Obama, then I think the superdelegates have to look long and hard at making her the nominee,” Mr. Rendell said yesterday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

Mr. Rendell conceded that delegates could not be seated based on the January 15 vote in Michigan, because Senator Obama was not on the ballot there, but the Pennsylvania governor said it is fair to consider the votes cast there for Mrs. Clinton as part of her total tally of popular votes. “You’re running against yourself. That’s the hardest thing. You can ask any politician,” Mr. Rendell said.

DODD: EVEN CLINTON BACKERS TIRING OF RACE

One of Senator Obama’s key allies in the presidential race, Senator Dodd of Connecticut, is suggesting that Senator Clinton is wearing out her welcome with Democrats, including some of her own backers. “While I fully respect the right of people to stay in a race and to test and challenge, at some point here national leadership has to step up and say, enough is enough,” Mr. Dodd told CNN’s “Late Edition” yesterday. “Candidly, an awful lot of Democrats, even those who are supporting Hillary Clinton in this case are beginning to get nervous about where this is taking us, putting at risk congressional races, Senate races, gubernatorial races and, candidly, the presidential race itself in November,” the Connecticut Democrat said.

CLINTON JOKINGLY SEEKS CREDIT FOR PRIMPING

Senator Clinton joked yesterday that she deserves extra credit for mastering the substance of the presidential campaign while also tending to her hair and her looks in the way expected of women in the public eye. “That is another difference, you know: how long it takes me to get ready than my two opponents. I mean really just think about it,” she told a town hall meeting in Missoula, Mont., yesterday, according to CNN. “I think I should get points for working as hard as I do plus the time it takes to get ready.”