I think it's more of the moderates who've been turned off by the Santorum-types. An intellectual woman who is obviously qualified would be a breath of fresh air to a lot of people, especially when one looks at the alienating effects of Sarah Palin.
That's a good point as well. Compared to the recent slew of awful, megaconservative female politicos (Palin, Bachmann, O'Donnell, etc), Rice looks like Margaret Thatcher - definitely bait for the centrist/independent types who care about electing people on the basis of silly things like race and gender.
