Speculation that Condoleezza Rice is being vetted by Mitt Romney as a possible running mate has been ratcheted up after Rice got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Sarah Palin.

Palin, the former Alaska governor and John McCain's 2008 vice-presidential pick, gave Rice her backing in a move that is expected to fuel the rumour mill and continue debate over whether the former secretary of state would return to political life.

"She [Rice] has much more experience than our sitting president does today," Palin told Fox News host Greta Van Sustren.

Palin added that she believed Rice would make a "wonderful" vice-president if the Republicans were to reclaim the White House in November's election.

Rice's name first emerged in the stakes to be Romney's running mate when the conservative Drudge Report last week claimed that the Republican challenger was considering her as a possible pick.

Other top conservative media figures, such as talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, have also touted Rice as a potentially exciting choice.

As a black woman, she would help counter the image of the Republican party as being overly dominated by white males, and, unlike Palin, who almost derailed the 2008 Republican campaign, Rice would bring a wealth of experience to the position as an already seasoned practitioner of international politics.

However, there are also immediate and glaring problems to a Rice selection. The first and most obvious is that Rice, who has never run for elected office, has repeatedly stated that she has absolutely no interest in such a role.

The second is that she has come out as being mildly pro-choice in a party where opposition to abortion is a firm litmus test of social conservative loyalty.

Some activists, such as Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, part of the Southern Baptist Convention, have already critcised the idea.

"It will deactivate the base. It will turn some serious contributors and activists into just voters, and some voters into fishermen," he told Wall Street Journal.

Palin, however, insisted that would not be a problem. "It's not the vice-president that would legislate abortion," she told Van Sustern.

But there are other problems, too. Rice's record during the Bush years in not without criticism.

She is seen as a major architect of the hugely expensive war in Iraq and the overall record of the Bush administration – of which she was a central figure – has fallen out of favour with many conservatives for running up high deficits.

Yet there is little doubt that Rice's name has added a surge of interest to Romney's hunt for a vice-presidential pick.

Previous interest has focused on more mainstream and conventional picks like former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who this week was chosen to give the weekly Republican radio address.

Both men would be solid choices, though unlikely to whip up vast amounts of enthusiasm for a 2012 Republican campaign already dogged by criticisms that Romney himself is not a compelling choice for president.

Rice would certainly shatter any ideas that Romney is not a risk-taker though. As a black woman she would bring demographic balance to the Republican ticket.

Rice is not, however, the only possible vice presidential pick who could bring demographic balance to the Republican ticket. Other names in the pot include Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal – an Indian American – and Florida senator Marco Rubio, a Tea Party favourite and Hispanic.