On political endorsements

Posted at 9:32 AM on October 19, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

The Barack Obama campaign matched McCain's Joe the Plumber bet by seeing a retired war general's endorsement. Colin Powell today endorsed Obama.

Mark Halperin of Time called it "one of the most important symbolic moments of the campaign."

Sources say Obama courted Powell's support for well over a year, with private discussions that have largely involved policy consultations, but also some explicit pleas for support. Powell's neutrality up until now had worried some Republicans, and a possible nod for Obama has been rumored and discussed for months. Whenever he has been asked in public about Obama, Powell has had nothing but kind words but, before his appearnace on Meet the Press, always stopped short of a full endorsement.

The Powell endorsement comes as influential newspapers are beginning a week of endorsements. The Star Tribune, for example, today urged a "no" vote on the sales tax increase for outdoors and cultural programs. The Pioneer Press editorial board followed suit.

Do endorsements make a difference to you?

---

Comments (3)

In general I don't think they make much difference, but Powell is respected enough to possibly make a difference.

Posted by brian | October 20, 2008 8:34 AM

---

After saying that... It won't effect how I will vote since I was already going to vote for Obama. So maybe it won't make any difference. It's hard to tell.

Posted by brian | October 20, 2008 8:56 AM

---

Powell is an extremely astute individual who knows he has to shore up his reputation with the press on the dominate political force in country, the left, if he is going to have a political future.

He has to repair the damage his did himself in the eyes of the left by testifying at the UN about WMD in Iraq.

Endorsing Obama is enough to do that.

All is forgiven.

Posted by GregS | October 20, 2008 10:15 AM

---

Post a comment

The following HTML tags are allowed in your comments:
+ Bold: <b>Text</b>
+ Italic: <i>Text</i>
+ Link: <a href="http://url" target="_blank">Link</a>
Fields marked with * are required.

Name*:

E-mail Address*:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments*:

Comment Preview appears above this form upon pressing the "preview" button. Edit your comment and press "preview" again, until you are satisfied with your comment.

Your comment may not appear on the blog until several minutes after it was submitted.

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Save to Delicious
• Submit to Digg
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories

Become a Sponsor