Exit, Stage Right

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Maybe it's time to give up on Colin Powell. Just to make it clear to those who missed his drift last fall, the presumptive "dream candidate" and declared Republican has now ruled out campaigning for any GOP presidential candidate in 1996. Dole has publicly talked of looking forward to taking Powell along on the stump, but he is apparently out of luck. "I am practicing my own politics privately," Powell told AP Network News on Monday. The general added that he did not feel comfortable telling people how to vote. He did not rule out participating in the GOP convention later this summer, but said he did not want to play a major role there. "Powell has obviously shown a distaste for elective politics," says TIME political correspondent Jeffrey Birnbaum. More specifically, Birnbaum adds, Powell disagrees with Dole on a number of key issues such as abortion and affirmative action. So is he waiting for 2000, or heading off into the sunset once and for all? "I haven't passed over yet," Powell offered, sphinx-like. "I'm not ready to go down to Hilton Head and sit in a rocking chair and drink gin fizzes." Anita Hamilton