If the complaint about Mitch Daniels is that he’s not ready for prime time on foreign affairs then tapping someone like Condoleezza Rice as a vice-presidential nominee would be a canny way to bolster his credibility in that arena. According to The Daily Beast, Daniels floated the possibility during drinks with a group of students recently:

Daniels accepted an invitation from those 55 students to meet at a spacious bar several blocks away after the event; he sipped Woodford Reserve bourbon as he asked them about their own lives and families. In return, they asked him who he might like to tap as his vice presidential nominee if he runs. Hypothetically, he told them, he’d like to pick Condoleezza Rice.

Rice’s personal history, race, and gender also make her a prime choice for the slot. She’s also well-respected. Even when the Bush administration’s approval ratings were at their worst, Rice’s never dipped to the lows of Bush’s or Cheney’s. And even though there’s a good argument that Rice is too much of a “realist,” she’s still a strong voice on human rights and hardly an opponent of military intervention.