Colin vs. Hillary in '06?

Colin Powell

One day after announcing his resignation as secretary of state, Colin Powell is being recruited as a Republican challenger to Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Senate in 2006.

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New York state Rep. Vito Fossella said he met with Powell today to urge him to take on the former first lady and leading Democratic presidential hopeful.

"His roots and heart have always been in New York," Fossella told the Associated Press. "I think he'd make a great representative, and I urge him strongly to consider running."

Powell, 67, was born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrants and raised in New York City.

Asked to comment on Fosella's gesture, a State Department spokeswoman referred to Powell's statement yesterday that he intended to return to private life, the AP said.

The state lawmaker said Powell should seriously consider a Senate run, partly because leading prospects former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki likely will vie instead for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Whoever wants the Senate seat needs to begin "setting the stage" now, Fossella said.

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Although his roots are in New York, Powell might have an advantage as an outsider at a time when the Republican leadership is under criticism for the party's poor showing in the recent elections. Voters gave overwhelming support to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Charles Schumer.

Powell is regarded as a moderate who could appeal to many Democrat voters.

A new Gallup poll indicates Clinton is the favorite among Democrats to win the party's presidential nomination in four years. Twenty-five percent of Democrats and independent voters who lean Democrat picked Clinton, while 15 percent chose Kerry.