Quest political alert: Powell endorses Obama

Powell Gives Obama His Endorsement for a Second Time
Colin L. Powell, the former Republican secretary of state and retired four-star general, said on Thursday that he had decided to endorse President Obama’s bid for re-election and was concerned that Mitt Romney was “a moving target” on foreign policy.
In an interview on “CBS This Morning,” Mr. Powell said that he was “more comfortable” with the president’s views on immigration, education and foreign policy.
“I do not want to see the new Obamacare plan thrown off the table,” Mr. Powell said. “It has issues — you have to fix some things in that plan — but what I see is that 30 million fellow citizens will now be covered.”
It is an open question whether his endorsement will carry as much weight as it seemed to four years ago when he threw his support behind Mr. Obamain the final weeks of his campaign with Senator John McCain. But the president’s advisers had been waiting with anticipation of an endorsement, which Mr. Powell did not reveal until his television interview Thursday morning….(NewYork Times)
By JEFF ZELENY