Alex Brandon/AP

Is Condoleezza Rice really Mitt's veep choice?

Reports say Romney will announce his choice for a running mate in the coming weeks.

Matt Drudge is reporting Mitt Romney's campaign has narrowed its choices for vice president down to a carefully vetted handful, and that the front runner is none other than former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. 
 
Drudge reports a VP announcement will happen in the "coming weeks." If it's true Rice tops the short list, pundits will point to Romney's big Park City donor retreat as her turning point. She gave a speech on American foreign policy that wowed everyone there. At the time, Politico said Rice's speech "was praised by several attendees. It, too, focused on foreign policy, and she chastised the president — sometimes by name — for failing to lead on the global stage." Two guests who declined to be named described Rice's speech to ABC News, saying it was "an 'impassioned plea' for the country to 'stand up and take charge.'" 
 
Ann Romney was the first to leak that a woman was part of the potential VP list, but Rice wasn't even on our radar then. Mitt said there would be "no more Palins," and our Elspeth Reeve thought he was ruling out, "not just candidates who'd fail foreign policy quizzes, but also candidates who are female." The prevailing thought at the time was Romney was going for something boring and white, like Rob Portman. Just a few days ago Portman was looking more and more like a sure thing when he said he'd been meeting with the top brass of the Romney campaign. 

Read more at The Atlantic Wire.