I think endorsements are about fund raising and Washington alliances. The people on the inside track, and big donors are the ones that care the most about a candidates connections and supporters.

The earlier comments about endorsements not affecting votes are probably true, but I’d bet that a Powell endorsement would bring money to either campaign, and political goodwill for their administration since Powell is still pretty well respected in very high up circles.

But as far as determining my vote? No way.

Colin Powell’s endorsement, however, won’t swing my vote. Now, if he somehow ended up as a runningmate to one of these guys, we can talk.

Everyone out there ask yourself this. How many times, when you were genuinely undecided about your vote, was the opinion of a politician or a celebrity a decisive factor in who you chose? The answer is never, right?

See here’s the thing. If there are even any folks out there who say someone’s endorsement made a difference, the truth is probably that they were already leaning strongly one way, and then they used the endorsement like permission.

I’ll cheerily concede that there may be exceptions, such as in the very rare case of a particularly iconic figure who perhaps transcended politics. If we currently had a very high-stature figure like say an MLK or a Mandela or the ghost of Ben Franklin, or if a very high profile partisan switched teams, that might have an effect.

But still, I say 99.999% nope.