It's a somewhat slow news day today, but here are a couple of the major campaign stories on the wire today:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday ruled out running for president, responding to speculation fueled by a recent poll showing support for a Rice candidacy.

Rice told The Washington Times last week, "I have never wanted to run for anything," although she seemed to leave the door open to the possibility.

She closed the door in appearances on Sunday talk shows, telling NBC's "Meet the Press," "I will not run for president of the United States."

"I won't run," she told ABC's "This Week." "I won't. How's that? Is that categorical enough?"

Link.

In reality, the "mildly pro-choice" Rice had little shot at garnering the Republican nomination in 2008 even had she tried to run. She simply was not a realistic candidate. In other news, the AP's Peggy Harris has a recently developing story coming out of the land of Clinton and Clark as well.

Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican congressman who just left his post as Homeland Security undersecretary, announced Saturday that he will run for Arkansas governor in 2006.

[...]

His decision sets up a Republican primary race with Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, who announced recently he would seek the post. Gov. Mike Huckabee, also a Republican, cannot seek re-election because of term limits. Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe is considered a likely candidate among the Democrats.

I'd still like to see Wesley Clark take a stab at the governorship of Arkansas, though it appears he's holding out for bigger and better things, perhaps even the VP nomination in 2008.