Poll Supports Rice for Veep

It seemed I had barely announced that I thought picking Condoleezza Rice as John McCain's running mate was a bad idea. What should appear? An item in CNN's Political Ticker blog saying that a McCain-Rice ticket could be successful.

According to CNN, a poll of New Yorkers by Marist College/WNBC says McCain-Rice would win New York, "defeating a Clinton-Obama ticket by 3 points (49-46%) and an Obama-Clinton ticket by 5 points (49-44%)."

CNN reminds its readers that George W. Bush lost New York by significant margins in 2000 and 2004.

Well, those numbers are compelling, but it is only April. There's an entire campaign to be run in the fall. Will McCain's lead hold up in New York -- or elsewhere?

Picking a running mate is always important, but it's going to be especially so -- for both sides -- this year.

For all I know, Rice may be the best choice for McCain. There certainly are a lot of prominent Republicans who are saying so.

And she seems to be getting plenty of support from the rank-and-file Republicans.

But I'm not convinced. Not yet.