Clark Schedules Announcement to Launch Presidential Bid
By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 16, 2003; 2:35 PM
washingtonpost.com
Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark has scheduled a 1 p.m. announcement tomorrow in Little Rock to officially launch his run for the presidency, advisers said.
Clark, a former NATO commander and harsh critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, will shake up an already wide-open race for the Democratic nomination. His announcement will make him the 10th Democrat to seek the nomination to challenge President Bush in 2004.
Although he has no political experience, the retired general will enter the race with the backing of several friends of former president Bill Clinton, the only Arkansan to win the White House.
Playing prominent roles in the campaign will be Eli J. Segal, a former Clinton administration official who was a leader of Clinton’s 1992 campaign; Donnie Fowler, former vice president Al Gore's 2000 field director; Ron Klain, a strategist for Gore; and Mark Fabiani, a communications specialist for Clinton and Gore, Clark associates said.
That support might help Clark overcome what appears to be his most immediate problem: raising enough money to compete with several candidates who are on target to raise $20 million or more this year. One draft Clark movement said it has raised about $1.5 million.
Clark also has impressed Washington powerbrokers such as Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which suggests it is not too late for him to win the backing of the Democratic Party's most powerful allies outside government. The AFL-CIO's endorsement, which is the most coveted prize of the early campaign season, remains up for grabs, and Clark has asked union officials to hold off until he decides whether to run.
Clark, who has flirted with running for months, had summoned a group of potential political, fundraising and legal advisers to Little Rock today to discuss his candidacy, according to several people familiar with the meeting. Organizers of unofficial efforts to draft Clark into the race were also invited to the meetings.
Before announcing his decision, Clark first wanted to determine if he could put together a presidential-caliber team this late in the game, which was the purpose of today's meetings in Little Rock, his friends said.
Among those who were expected at today's strategy session were Skip Rutherford, a Clinton fundraiser, and D. Vanessa Weaver, a Clinton appointee, in addition to Klain and Fabiani. Former Clinton White House lawyer Bruce Lindsey also backs Clark.
Clinton is high on Clark and has encouraged him to run, according to a friend of both men, who said the former president has talked with Clark on several occasions but is unlikely to endorse him.
It is unclear whether Clark has the personal and political skills to mount a serious run for the White House, according to Democrats who know him. He has never run for office and has virtually no experience with domestic policy. Several people who worked with him during the Clinton administration also found him abrasive and controlling, two traits that could hinder him on the campaign trail. Several Democrats who have met with Clark in recent weeks, however, walked away impressed with his ideas and confident he would quickly become a formidable candidate.
His foreign policy expertise will be a huge and formidable asset in this campaign. With Iraq dominating the past two presidential debates, Clark will instantly become one of the most credible critics of Bush's foreign policy, Democrats said.
Clark, the NATO commander during the successful war in Kosovo, will make national security -- and Bush's handling of the war in Iraq -- a centerpiece of the campaign, friends said. Democratic strategists said Clark probably would cut into the support for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a decorated Vietnam veteran campaigning as the war hero candidate, and former Vermont governor Howard Dean, the anti-war candidate.
If Clark had decided not to run, Dean and others would have considered him a top candidate for vice president. Dean has met with Clark four times to discuss the campaign, and the two recently discussed the vice presidency, though no official offers were made.
Kerry, who is looking to gain ground on Dean, parted ways yesterday with communications adviser Chris Lehane, who had urged him to mount a more aggressive challenge to Dean. Kerry has not ruled out additional staff changes. |
