PROVIDENCE -- Former Secretary of State and four-star general Colin Powell said this evening he has no interest in running for vice president should presumptive Republican nominee John McCain ask him, as has been speculated recently in media reports.

"I am not interested in political life, and I am not a candidate for any office," Powell said at a small news conference.

Nor is he ready to endorse McCain or Democratic presumptive nominee Barack Obama -- but he seemed to leave open the door to an endorsement as the campaign continues.

"Right now, my only responsibility as a citizen is to vote," Powell said. "What else I might do remains to be seen."

Powell is in Rhode Island to speak at the Providence Performing Arts Center to a gathering tonight of the 2008 U.S. Scholar-Athlete Games.

"As a citizen," Powell said, "I am going to judge the two candidates on the basis of their policies and on the basis of the vision that they have for the country and which one I think will do the very best job, which one will bring the competence to government that the American people are looking for -- and especially the economic policies that they might bring as president."

-- Journal staff writer G. Wayne Miller