Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president

Colin Powell, a Republican who was President Bush’s first secretary of state, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Sunday and criticized the tone of Republican John McCain’s campaign.

The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said either candidate is qualified to be commander in chief. However, he said Obama is better suited to handle the nation’s economic problems as well as help improve its standing in the world.

Powell expressed disappointment in the negative tone of McCain’s campaign, his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate and McCain’s and Palin’s decision to focus in the closing weeks of the contest on Obama’s ties to 1960s-era radical William Ayers, a co-founder of the Weather Underground, which claimed responsibility for nonfatal bombings during the Vietnam War-era. Ayers is now a college professor who lives in Obama’s Chicago neighborhood. He and Obama also served together on civic boards in Chicago.

Brief by The Associated Press