Scott McClellan, William Weld Endorse Barack Obama

Has Colin Powell Opened a Republican Floodgate?

Another high-ranking former president Bush cabinet member has departed the ranks of the Republicans supporting the McCain- Palin ticket. Scott McClellan, president Bush's former press secretary announced Thursday, October 23, that he had been planning to vote for Senator Barack Obama for several months but had kept the news to himself.

McClellan plans to officially endorse Senator Obama on CNN's new show, "D. L. Hughley Breaks The News," which premieres Saturday, October 24, at 10 p.m. EST. McClellan will also talk about the endorsement on "Larry King Live" on CNN Friday at 9 p.m. EST.

Comedian D. L. Hughley told the Associated Press that he practically had to beg McClellan to announce during the taping of his new show. "We are a new show and your endorsement would probably mean a lot. But don't look at the fact that I am black or, no pressure. Endorse somebody, damn it!"

And he got it. McClellan stated simply, "I will be voting for Barack Obama." He told Hughley that Barack Obama was "the best chance of changing the way Washington works."

Scott McClellan was president George W. Bush's press secretary from July 2003 to April 2006. Earlier this year, he made headlines with the release of his book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, in which he frankly indicted many former colleagues in the White House for deceiving the American people about the facts surrounding the lead-up to the War in Iraq.

When former Secretary of State Colin Powell went on "Meet The Press" Sunday, October 19, and told Tom Brokaw that he would be supporting Democratic Senator Barack Obama for president, one might wonder how many Republicans were wrestling with their consciences over whether to publicly endorse a man they had already privately decided to vote for. The Colin Powell endorsement would have taken a considerable amount of pressure off the next Republican defector. Once the General made his endorsement, he became the target of every neoconservative pundit and analyst in the country.

And he may have also opened the floodgates.