Poll shows Californians want Alabama native Condi Rice to replace their liberal US senator

A recently released Field Poll shows the deep blue state of California has someone in mind to replace their longtime liberal U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.), but it is probably not anyone you would expect.

Alabama native and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received the highest level of support of any potential candidate polled, even higher than California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is the unquestioned Democratic frontrunner going into the race.

The poll sampled just shy of 1,000 likely California voters and offered 18 potential candidates, asking whether survey respondents “would be inclined or not inclined to vote for that person.”

Rice, who the L.A. Times has called the GOP’s “dream candidate,” has so far rejected overtures to enter the race. Polls have shown that as many as three in ten Democrats would abandon their Party to vote for the popular former Bush Administration official.

The Black Conservatives Fund has frequently joined the chorus of individuals and groups urging Rice to return to public life, going as far as to say that her running “might even put California in play for a GOP presidential candidate.”

“Condi is a true American success story. Her father was a minister. She’s an accomplished pianist, diplomat, and a role model for millions,” the group said in a fundraising email. “But the best news of all is that if she runs, she can steal California’s U.S. Senate seat from the Democrats.”

Rice is a former Stanford Provost and currently serves as a political science professor and on the faculty of the university’s graduate school of business. Her private sector experience includes board positions for the Carnegie Corporation, Chevron, Hewlett Packard, Charles Schwab, Rand Corporation and more. But she is most well known for her time in the Bush administration. She became the first female National Security Advisor during President George W. Bush’s first term. She went on the become the 66th Secretary of State, succeeding Colin Powell as the nation’s top diplomat.

In spite of Party leaders’ numerous attempts to coax her back into the spotlight, Rice continues to signal little to no interest in returning to politics.

“I’m quite content to spend my life helping young people find themselves, I’ve had my fill of politics,” she said late last year. “I’m a very happy university professor… the best thing about being a university professor is that you see young people as they’re being shaped and molded toward their own future and you have a chance to be a part of that.”

After a different poll showed Rice as California voters’ top choice for U.S. Senate last year, Rice’s chief of staff said it “doesn’t change her position about running for Senate. She plans to stay at Stanford.”

There is little reason to believe anything has changed since then, but California voters — not to mention Republicans all over the country — continue to hold out hope that she will reconsider.