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Saturday, Oct 18, 2008 2:57 PM UTC

Colin Powell endorsement fever

Will the former secretary of state declare his intentions on Sunday's "Meet the Press"? And why should we care?

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Topics: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, War Room,

Will Colin Powell be endorsing Barack Obama for president of the United States on Sunday’s edition of “Meet the Press”?

That is the buzz of the moment, exciting an inordinate amount of interest among Obama partisans. Never mind Powell’s embarassing, humiliating, betrayal-of-his-own-legacy participation in providing cover for the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. The political calculus appears to be: If a Powell endorsement grabs one news cycle of media attention for Obama at the expense of McCain this week, all is forgiven.

The New York Daily News’ Thomas DeFrank, relying on numerous unnamed sources, provides the latest inside baseball on a possible endorsement.

Given Powell’s cautious nature, he might decide to make his endorsement of Obama implied, rather than explicit. Even so, a well-informed source told the Daily News:

“After Sunday people aren’t going to have any doubt who he’s voting for.”

And what would be the reasoning?

“McCain has too many neocons working for him,” said one Republican source familiar with Powell’s thinking.

Powell is also irked that McCain’s political handlers orchestrated disingenuous leaks to reporters during the Democratic convention that Powell was a leading candidate to be McCain’s running mate.

Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21. More Andrew Leonard.

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