Colin Powell huddles this weekend with family and friends to mull a Republican run for the White House as the "don't run" chorus grows among his confidants.
"I told him he's dealing with a party that's being run by people who think he'll thwart their 15-year revolution," said Bruce Llewellyn, Powell's cousin and a wealthy Philadelphia businessman. "After such a stellar career, why should he have to subject himself to being trashed?"With the pressure on, Powell has canceled several speaking engagements slated for the next two weeks to free up time to make what he called "the most momentous decision of my life."
Meanwhile, conservatives have attacked Powell for being too liberal. They have also gone after GOP thinkers such as William Bennett and Jack Kemp for welcoming Powell into the party, complaining decades of GOP work could be sacrificed on the "altar of celebrity."
Other Powell friends who think he should take a pass include Fred Malek, who gave Powell a career-boosting White House job, GOP sources said. Malek would not discuss his conversations with Powell.
Rich Armitage, an old Pentagon friend, has long urged him to skip the meat-grinder of a presidential race.
"Armitage has told him, `Don't run, because they're ready to rip you up,"' said Tex McCrary, a Powell friend who is encouraging him to run.
Powell, who has said he'd decide in the next few weeks, was to sit down this weekend with his wife, Alma, and his children to discuss a race. A few friends were expected to be a part of the decision-making process, too.
Alma Powell's concerns about her husband's safety are well-known, and she doesn't relish the limelight, said Llewellyn.
"She doesn't want to live through the inferno - and that's what it would be, a commitment to a year of hell," added one family friend.
Llewellyn, who talked to Powell on Thursday, said he told Powell to send a message to the right wing, if he gets in.
"He should say he stands for inclusion; that's a condition of him running," his cousin advised.
Groups such as the Family Research Council and the American Conservative Union came out square against Powell last week and urged Republicans not to be seduced by his popularity. It started an internal party fight about whether Powell is worthy of consideration for the GOP nomination.
Grover Norquist, who has close ties to House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said the rift is overblown - and that rank-and-file conservatives aren't buying what those in Washington say. Powell is not a real Republican, he said.
"This is Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich's political party," Norquist said. "This is not the party of country clubs and the Eastern establishment."
But William Kristol, writing in The Weekly Standard, noted Powell's numbers remain high - despite the attack from the right. "As Powell has test-marketed his moderate views, there has been no discernible decline in his Republican support," Kristol wrote.