The Shoe Drops

On Monday I wrote: The shoe that hasn't dropped: Apart from the primary endorsements of the Kennedys, probably the most important endorsement in 2008 for Obama was Colin Powell. It's not clear he has the influence four years later that he did then, but he has not endorsed this year. He's criticized Romney's foreign policy statements. He could be waiting until after the foreign policy debate tonight. But in a race perceived to be this close, a Colin Powell endorsement of President Obama could help."

I'm not aware of anyone else who noted this.  But today, it happened:

"Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell endorsed President Obama’s re-election campaign this morning on CBS This Morning. Powell — who served as the top U.S. diplomat during the Bush administration — said the president would be better on the economy but he also had harsh criticism of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy, reiterating his concern about Romney’s neocon advisers and that the GOP presidential nominee essentially threw out all his past hawkish positions and played a moderate during this week’s foreign policy debate.

POWELL: Not only am I uncomfortable with what Governor Romney is proposing for his economic plan, I have concerns about his views on foreign policy. The governor who was speaking on Monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier so I’m not quite sure which governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy.

As several analysts have pointed out, the big news would have been if Powell had endorsed Romney, and that might have echoed.  But at this point in the campaign any good story for Obama is good for Obama, and any bad story for Romney--like the continuing Mourdock story, as the GOP flails around it--is bad for Romney.  None of it may be calculable, but sometimes it is what it is.  As a very respected centrist Republican, Colin Powell still can sway voters, especially older ones.  Maybe that's why the right is reacting so rabidly to this endorsement.

Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell's chief deputy, also endorsed President Obama today.  On Hardball he pointed out that the GOPer neocons, with all their bureaucratic and political experience, could push an inexperienced President into war--they did it with GW, they could easily do it with Romney.  "If you liked Iraq, you'll love Romney."  Pretty powerful, and needs to be said.

Meanwhile, Romney's momentum has officially stopped, and President Obama holds on to leads in most swing states, and has leads in the others in some polls.  There's a BIG Obama rally in Cleveland today.