This is a pleasant surprise!

Former Bush Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who was once thought to be a potential running mate for John McCain, might instead be endorsing his opponent, Barack Obama.

According to Republican sources, Powell will be appearing this Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press and might be releasing the news then.

At the age of 71, Powell has been a professional soldier for 35 years. He's also advised the last three Republican presidents.

Fears from McCain's camp are that Powell's "unassailable national security credentials could sway voters who are vacillating about whether Obama is ready to be commander in chief, and his endorsement of the Illinois senator would make a national security emphasis by McCain in the election's closing days extremely difficult."

Well, we wonder why he isn't supporting McCain and Sarah Palin then????

And, although for the past few months, Powell has refused to publicly state who he'll be endorsing, everyone is suspecting it will be Obama.

A McCain official said, “It’s going to make a lot of news, and certainly be personally embarrassing for McCain. It comes at a time when we need momentum, and it would create momentum against us.”

NBC's Andrea Mitchell released the news of Powell's appearance this Sunday while on the Today show earlier this morning.

She said, “In what promises to be a dramatic moment Sunday, Colin Powell — a lion of the Republican establishment, whom McCain and Obama both have courted for months — will finally speak out on a variety of issues, appearing exclusively on Meet the Press."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14665.html