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The public speeches he gave to make a living always elicited questions about whether he would run. His stock answer was an adroit pirouette about not having made up his mind--but he also flicked in allusions to his possibly grand future. At a speech in San Antonio, Texas, in January, he made approving noises about the new Italian Prime Minister, selected precisely because "he has no politics and he has a government of technocrats. Interesting!" As the months passed, he gradually gave longer, more thoughtful answers, speculating in public about his future in just enough greater detail to give reporters reason to think he was steadily inching closer to a yes decision.
As the Powell for President boomlet grew, the general did nothing to stop it. Draft Powell committees sent him memos explaining how he might actually win the Republican nomination and presidency; he sent word back to keep up the good work. He met with his old friends and associates Kenneth Duberstein and Richard Armitage to game out how both an independent run and a Republican run would work, what the timing would be, how much money they would take. Duberstein prepared memos on filing dates and election laws. On May 24 the three of them met at Powell's McLean, Virginia, house to review the prospects. Duberstein summed up Powell's state of mind at that point: "It's fair to say that he's not waking up every morning saying, 'I want to be President, and how can I get there?' But he's enjoying the hell out of his speeches. At every forum he goes to, people are coming up to him and telling him he must run, that it's his duty to serve. He can't escape it."
BUT DURING THE SUMMER SIMmering, there were signs of Alma's reluctance. One day she walked into the dining room to find the general, Armitage and Duberstein huddled over takeout chicken and mashed potatoes and talking about the future. "What are you boys up to?" Alma asked. "Seeing if we might screw up the presidential race," Armitage replied.
"That's just great," she said, joking, noncommittal. He asked her if she would go on camera during an interview scheduled with Barbara Walters. "No way," she said. "I don't do that." Armitage smiled. "That's good," he kidded her, "because then we don't have to worry about your sitting in the background giving the finger and sticking out your tongue to the camera. We won't have to slash your tires so you can't make it to the studio." She did eventually do the interview--and through it all, she never flatly vetoed the idea of running. If elected, was the message, she would serve.
As his book tour approached, Powell prepared himself for the publicity blitz by honing his positions on the major issues of the day, one more sign of his growing comfort in the eddies of presidential politics. Before the Barbara Walters interview he sat down with friends to rehearse possible questions and answers--then deliberately used the interview to show a lot more leg on controversial subjects, including abortion, affirmative action and gun control.