"I have never wanted to run for anything," Rice said in the interview published Saturday. "I don't think I even ran for class anything when I was in school."

In a poll conducted in February, 42 percent of voters said Rice should run for the White House. The survey, conducted by the Siena College Research Institute and sponsored by Hearst Newspapers, found that 81 percent of people would vote for a woman for president; 53 percent thought Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., should try for the job.

"I'm going to try to be a really good secretary of state," Rice told the Times. "I'm going to work really hard at it. I have enormous respect for people who do run for office. It's really hard for me to imagine myself in that role."

As if she would rule out a candidacy, Rice said, "Oh, that's not fair, but ... I really can't imagine it."

© 2005 Associated Press.

Editor's note: