Reply #27: No.

[LeftyMom]

If Madeline Albright were US-born, could she run and win? No. What about Janet Reno? Even without Waco, Elian and other PR disasters, she'd have no hope.

Other than Vice Presidents, few make the jump from adviser to President. RFK would have done it, but he was very popular and a Kennedy, so something of a special case.

Before the war, Colin Powell would have had good a shot if he wanted it. Before Iraq completely went to shit, Condi had a very small outside chance. Mostly though, when presidential advisors are well known, it's for something bad, a scandal, a screw-up, being completely evil, going to jail, a tell-all book, death... When's the last time the media paid attention to a cabinet member for doing a good job? When they do well, hardly anybody knows their names.