Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had high praise Monday for her designated successor, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and for President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice.

She told reporters in response to a question about Obama's choices for the two posts that the three women also have a link to Stanford University in California.

"I know Senator Clinton very well," Rice said. "I have known her since she brought her freshman daugter (Chelsea) to Stanford when I was provost at Stanford."

"She's someone of high intelligence, great integrity and in fact has what one needs most in this job which is a profound commitment to the United States, its interests, its values ... and so I think she will do a really very fine job as secretary of state."

"Susan Rice was a student when I was at Stanford," the secretary of state said, adding with a smile, "there seems to be a theme here."

"We know each other well. She is also somebody who's highly intelligent and will work very hard, and I think she will put her heart and soul into the U.N. because she's a great believer in this institution and what it can do."

Both Clinton and Rice must be confirmed for their posts by the U.S. Senate.

The Associated Press, December 16, 2008