McCain said he "missed those signals" when asked about a televised comment by Dan Senor, a former military spokesman for coalition forces in Baghdad, The New York Times said. Senor said Rice spoke last week before a meeting of economic conservatives, an odd forum for a secretary of state.

"Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this," Mr. Senor said.

Rice has said she was not interested in being vice president.

McCain complimented Rice, saying, "I think there's very little that I can say that isn't anything but the utmost praise for a great American citizen, who served as a role model to so many millions of people in this country and around the world."

Saying Rice's overall record is "very, very meritorious," McCain said Rice, who was national security adviser during the first year and a half of the war in Iraq, bore some responsibility for the management of the war. He has been critical of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq.