Clark - It's the Economy, General By Terry M. Neal
Washintonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, September 25, 2003; 8:28 AM
washingtonpost.com
As speculation built about whether retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark would enter the Democratic presidential contest, the conventional wisdom was that it might be too late to raise the kind of money and build the kind of national network a candidate needs to be competitive in an increasingly front-loaded nominating process.
But it has become apparent that money and resources won't be the only significant challenge he faces.
Unlike candidates who announced their intentions to "explore" a presidential candidacy last winter or spring, Clark doesn't have the luxury of being ignored until he refines his message, because he is entering the race when the public is beginning to pay attention and media coverage is intense. That has its good and bad points.
The good: An avalanche of media attention helped propel Clark to the front of the Democratic pack. A new round of polls has him leading the field of 10 Democrats by a wide margin. A national Gallup poll of Democrats conducted Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 put Clark at 22 percent, with the next closest opponents, former Vermont governor Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) coming in at 12 percent each, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) at 11 percent, and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) at 9 percent. (It is probably worth noting here that the Rev. Al Sharpton is in a statistical tie with Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) at 5 and 4 percent respectively.)
The bad: An avalanche of media attention helped expose Clark's apparent lack of preparation -- a vulnerability that some of his opponents will seek to exploit at tonight's debate in New York.
It's the Economy, General!
Privately, Clark's opponents are thrilled that his entry into the race just happens to come right before tonight's debate on the economy, sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. The expectation from some of the camps is that Clark's crash course in Economy 101 will do little to shield his relative lack of experience on domestic policy. (Clark received a masters degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University in 1968, but his military career path afforded scant opportunity to draft economic policy.) Clark has already had a well-documented stumble as he flip-flopped in the debate over Iraq - an area that is supposed to be his strength.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken in mid-September underscores the extent to which the economy is an issue with voters. When asked which was the bigger issue, significantly more respondents said the economy (61 percent) than terrorism (37 percent).
"This debate is going to be very important," said a Lieberman campaign official. "Democratic primary voters list the economy as the most important issue. It is one of Bush's biggest vulnerabilities and Clark's weakest point as well as Lieberman's strongest point."
Clark unveiled his economic plan at a speech in New York on Wednesday. Among other things, the plan would roll back parts of the Bush tax cuts favoring the wealthy, give a $40-billion rebate to help relieve financially strapped states, and give businesses $20 billion in tax credits to create new jobs.
"Three years ago, we were told we were getting a compassionate conservative," Clark said in his speech. "What we got instead were massive tax cuts for the rich, staggering deficits for the country, and the worst job losses since the Great Depression. That's not compassionate or conservative; it's heartless, it's reckless, and it's wrong. And if you elect me president, I'll put it right."
Clark adviser Michael Frisby said his candidate poses something that the others lack -- leadership.
"The thing about Clark that the other candidates will soon recognize is that he is incredibly bright," Frisby said. "The parallels to Clinton are tremendous in that they are both brilliant. Clark is that kind of smart…. What he's going to do better than the other Democratic candidates, and President Bush, is articulate broad principles to the American public. He can connect to the public, and they can't."
The View on Clark
None of the campaigns, of course, will admit that Clark scares them.
"The polls are revealing of nothing other than the timing of when the questions were asked," said an official with a rival campaign. "It's happening in a vacuum. What do people know about him? It's all resume stuff. But they don't know anything about his policies or leadership."
That could be true. But "resume stuff" could count for a lot in this election. Clark is from the South, just as the previous three Democratic presidents have been. He's a retired general with a distinguished record, which could go a long way toward neutralizing the Democrats-are-soft-on-defense argument.
Kym Spell, Clark's communications director, said a lot of people seem to be underestimating her boss on economic and other domestic issues. How many other candidates, after all, have delivered a major policy speech one week after announcing a presidential campaign, she said.
"He's going to be able to prove to the American people that he understands the needs of this country," she said. "Only time will tell. But he's smart and focused. Just because you haven't spent all of your time in Washington doesn't mean you don't understand the needs of the country and know how to fix it. I think people are going to be really surprised."
While many of the pundits and talking heads have speculated that Clark's entry into the race would hurt Dean, it might also help him if other candidates shift some of their rhetorical fire away from Dean and toward Clark. Some of this will be on display at tonight's debate in New York. |
