Colin Powell is pro-Obama

The article I'll be referring to can be found here:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/10/25/powell-standing-obama-presidential-race/D2YV4L3IUfLjtQrXehWhMN/story.html

The Boston Globe (among others) report that former Secretary of State Colin Powell will vote for Obama in 2012.

This by itself is somewhat interesting, but not exactly a bombshell. Indeed, having anyone from the Bush administration publicly favor your campaign might have the opposite effect.

Regardless, the way this connects to the recently discussed idea of economies of attention is somewhat simple. It's often you hear politicians -- both Republican and Democrat -- claim they work "across the aisle." Indicating that the politician doing the talking is able to work in a bipartisan manner. Because politicians -- aka Important and Famous People -- keep referencing it, it has become a new buzzword, or buzz-topic, that the media love to report on.

In this case, Powell's endorsement or admittance to voting for Obama this election centers the attention on that concept. This then provides the reporting medium -- in this case, the Globe -- with readers which then buy its newspaper.