WASHINGTON: American diplomat Condoleezza Rice has been listed as the top Vice-Presidential candidate in Republican Presidential contender Mitt Romney’s campaign, a new report has found.

The Drudge Report, the conservative website, claims that Rice is the new frontrunner to be Romney’s running mate in the November 6 elections.

Drudge has long appeared supportive of the Romney campaign and there are ties between the site’s founder, Matt Drudge, and Romney staffers.

According to ABC News, Rice, who was secretary of state under former president George W Bush and is now a professor at Stanford University, is currently on vacation this weekend, her spokesperson confirmed.

However, there has been more and more buzz about how some conservatives view Rice favorably because she’s the “anti-Palin”, followed by Bill Kristol predicting that she is a front-runner, because Ann Romney claimed that they are considering a woman Vice Presidential candidate.

Rice has repeatedly and steadfastly maintained that she not only doesn’t want to be Vice-President, she doesn’t want to run for any elected office.

“There is no way I would do this. I didn’t run for student council president. I don’t see myself in any way in elected office. I love policy. I’m not particularly fond of politics,” Rice has said in her interviews.

While she has previously endorsed Romney, unlike other potential Vice Presidential picks, Rice has not campaigned with him. She has been the featured speaker at a few fundraisers and has given rousing speeches at closed events, but she’s hardly been an attack dog against the Obama administration.

Rice has focused more on why she likes Romney in interviews, while her statements of public criticism of the President are viewed to have been intellectual and thoughtful, rather than emotionally-charged like other potential Vice-Presidential picks, the report said.