GOP should fear Wesley Clark
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By Bronwyn Lance Chester
VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Posted on Sat, Aug. 09, 2003
He's whip-smart, silver-haired handsome, articulate and a retired general. He sounds like an Arkansas good-ol'-boy, but was first in his West Point class and a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University.
He saw combat in Vietnam, commanded NATO forces and fared well toe-to-toe with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," perhaps the ultimate test of candidate battle-worthiness.
He is potential presidential candidate Wesley Clark, the one Democrat who might strike fear in Republican hearts - if only he'd run.
Ask many Americans their thoughts on the current crop of Democratic presidential hopefuls and be prepared for eye rolls, groans and name-calling. Instead of excitement, Democratic candidates have largely produced dyspepsia, even among party faithful.
Joe Lieberman? Damaged goods. Dick Gephardt? Boring. John Edwards? Ken Doll. John Kerry? Too effete. Bob Graham? Who? And so on.
Howard Dean, the current media paramour, has generated the most buzz and has raised millions in an Internet-driven campaign. But the former Vermont governor insists the Democratic Party has moved too far to the right, and he wants to shift it leftward, where most Americans aren't.
None of these guys make pulses race. Few make voters want to cast ballots for them, though lots of voters are against President Bush. Instead of running scared, Republicans are stockpiling election night champagne.
Clark is perhaps the one guy with the personality and national security credentials to change this. While he was skeptical about the Iraq war, his military career counters any anti-patriotic charges. "NASCAR Dads" would be attracted to this man who owns guns and hunts. His background would play well in the South and Midwest.
A group of dedicated Clark supporters hopes a slew of voter letters will spur the general to run. Clark's will-he-or-won't-he candidacy has almost become an anecdote in this election's larger story, the use of the Internet in reaching out to supporters.
The grass-roots movement, www.draftwesleyclark.com, has consistently scored second or third out of all presidential candidate Web sites - even Bush's - according to the Alexa Web ranking service, said John Hlinko, the Clark effort's co-leader in Washington.
The lower the number, the higher the ranking. As of last Sunday, Howard Dean's site was ranked 15,210. Draftwesleyclark.com was 19,133. By comparison, JohnKerry.com scored a paltry 50,989. Clark, however, hasn't even said he's running and voters have had to sleuth to deduce that he's a Democrat.
Hlinko believes the Web hits show strong interest in Clark: "People don't visit Web sites because they randomly stumble across them. People search them out. And people had to dig to find us."
Reminiscent of the Internet-driven flash-mob phenomenon, Clark supporters have been gathering simultaneously once a month in nearly 100 cities across America.
I ask Hlinko why he thinks Clark might stand a chance. "Because he has an appeal that crosses party divides," he says. "People are intrigued by him. Perhaps the best way to explain it is that he's the president we were promised as kids. He's a larger-than-life figure."
Why should Republicans be scared of him? "In the way Reagan brought over Southern Democrats, Clark could bring over moderate Republicans. The right-wing should be worried because of Clark's swing-state appeal."
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, thinks it might not be so easy. "It's awfully tough for draftees to pull upsets," he said Monday.
Stephen Medvic, assistant professor of government at Franklin & Marshall College, agrees, but notes: "Democrats realize that security is going to be a crucial issue next year, and rightly or wrongly, they won't be seen as being as tough on those issues as Bush."
Medvic said of the Clark phenomenon: "I'm hearing a lot of Democratic friends say they like this or that candidate. But then they say, 'But who I really like is Clark."'
If the general decides to run, he'll be behind the eight ball in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as in the crucial fund-raising game. But Clark may be gunning for a vice-presidential slot, where he could draw voters hesitant about a too-left-leaning Dean or Kerry candidacy.
First, Clark must show he's game. As Hlinko said: "Like any good general, he will only go into battle when he has the necessary ground troops. We feel that if we show him it's a battle he can win, he won't dodge the draft."
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Bronwyn Lance Chester is a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. Contact her at bronwyn.chester@pilotonline.com.
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