Meanwhile, on those on the far right are equally as dismissive of the endorsement, saying it's nothing but a racial thing, or that Powell was never a true conservative in the first place, or that he's just one tiny voice among thousands.

But the opinions of either of these groups of people is totally meaningless. The partisans view *everything* through a partisan lens, it's not like the Powell endorsement is going to change the hardliners' minds one way or the other.

How this *really* matters is how the Powell endorsement plays with that thin sliver in the middle, who don't have their minds filled with hardened preconceptions.

So, how will the Powell endorsement play with them? Only time will tell…I suspect it may help Obama, although perhaps only to a minute degree. But more importantly, someone on one of the cable news networks noted that this “major” news story will drive the media cycle for at least a day, perhaps two days. And with precious few days left before the election, that can only be bad news for McCain.

Did you see over at Fox there was speculation that Powell only endorsed Obama because he was miffed that McCain did not ask him to run as his VP !!!
When the truth hurts, invent a fairy tale!
( McCain should have picked Powell, imo- it would have been 1000 x better than picking Palin who is not even on the same page with him on policy, and it would have shown that the GOP had a serious minority candidate on the ticket)