Over the weekend, Colin Powell announced his support for Senator Barack Obama, officially endorsing the Democratic nominee as president.

We’ve seen plenty of publicly-announced candidate endorsements this election year, but none thus far from Colin Powell, who’s remained noticeably mum prior to his announcement this morning. Many political pundits believe that an Obama endorsement from Colin Powell, a former cabinet member for President Bush, bolsters the Democratic candidate’s lead.

In this cluster, you’ll find several other public candidate endorsements that range from subtle to shocking. Not every celebrity is as diplomatic in their political pronouncements as Colin Powell was, as you’ll see from some of the articles below.