Analysis: Will Clark sweep the race?
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By Marie Horrigan
Published 8/26/2003 9:32 PM
upi.com
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Former Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark has a platform. He has funds. He has a budding political infrastructure. Media attention. Television ads. A base of fervent supporters. And a poll, released Monday, ranks him fifth among potential Democratic presidential candidates.
The question remains, however, is he a candidate?
"No decision," the retired four-star general told United Press International regarding his possible run for the Democratic nomination.
Has Clark considered a vice presidential slot, since rumors are swirling in Washington about him joining the ticket of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean -- the only one of the nine currently declared Democratic candidates whose poll numbers appear to be going up?
"Well, no."
Speaking Friday from his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., in a telephone interview with UPI, Clark outlined his top two policy priorities -- "creating an appropriate strategy to deal with the threats we face abroad and at home" and dealing with "the jobs issue" -- while maintaining his solid "no comment" stance on his widely speculated possible presidential run.
Looking forward, Clark attacks the consequences of Bush's policies without attacking Bush himself, focusing on multilateralism as the driving force in foreign policy.
"I submit ... that we would have been better had we strengthened the international system, focused on dealing with terrorism directly, rather than creating the case that justified a war against Iraq which had long been part of the rhetoric of some of the people now making up the administration," he told UPI.
"We're at an crucial time in American history," Clark later said. "We're sliding into one-government government and there are some remarkably extreme views dominating in the policy councils, both at home and abroad, and we need to return ... to more centered policy."
The ongoing and increasingly bloody efforts to establish democracy in post-war Iraq represent "a much deeper, more significant problem ... than the administration portrayed it to be, and Iraq itself as a democratic, Western-oriented -- if it could become a democratic, Western-oriented nation -- it would be in a rough neighborhood and would be under threat just as the American forces there are under threat today."
Clark has the platform, and -- for a non-candidate -- some other impressive factors working in his favor. A spokesman for one of the largest online pro-Clark communities, DraftWesleyClark.com, said that the group was on line to garner $800,000 by late Tuesday afternoon and $1 million by the end of the month.
Moreover, poll results released Monday put Clark in fifth place with 4.9 percent of the vote among likely voters in the Democratic primary, behind Dean, Rep. Dick Gephardt from Missouri, Sen. Joe Lieberman from Connecticut and Sen. John Kerry from Massachusetts. The poll, conducted by Zogby International for DraftWesleyClark.com, was conducted Aug. 16-19. The poll, however, carries a 4.1-percent error margin.
But DraftWesleyClark.com insiders point out that Clark ranked highest in strength of voter sentiment among the five top candidates, while in a blind-biography question pitting Clark against President George W. Bush, Clark won out among all likely voters with an almost 10-point margin, safely outside a 3.2-percent error margin.
"That tells us if Clark runs, and he can translate that political potential into political reality, he's going to be an incredibly competitive and viable candidate," DraftWesleyClark.com's Chris Kofinis told UPI.
He added, "If (Clark) does win the (Democratic) nomination, in some respects he could pose the biggest nightmare for the president. Because a sitting president after two wars, after (the terror attacks of) 9-11, should not be losing in a blind bio to an unnamed Democrat by 10 percent. That should not be happening, and it did."
But, although no one disputes Clark's capabilities, Democratic insiders express doubt about Clark's ability to enter the race this late, even with an estimated 32 percent of undecideds among likely Democratic primary voters.
Donna Brazile, who headed Vice President Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, told UPI that if Clark -- who she describes as a "very dynamic, smart and capable man" -- decides to enter the race she hopes he does so "sooner rather than later, because we're at a critical junction in the race for the nomination" with upcoming candidate debates, the first of which is scheduled for Sept. 3 in Albuquerque.
"He's not a known quantity, he would have to build name recognition, build an organization, be in touch with Democratic activists and donors and begin to, you know, play ball like the rest of them," to launch a successful campaign, she said.
Democratic consultant Peter Fenn put it more bluntly: "If what he's looking for is face time and air time, and getting his views out and talking about his vision for where the country should go, more power to him. I mean, I think it's healthy. I have no trouble with that, but I just think, I mean, maybe I'll be proved wrong, but I just think it's just too friggin' late (to enter the race)."
Moreover, Fenn argues, "I don't think you have -- I hate to say this -- but I don't think you have a bunch of liberal Democrats in Iowa who can't wait for a general to come across the border, you know what I mean?"
" ... It's fine for some folks to futz around and create a sort of sophomoric advertisement, but, you know, this is a pretty tough road for (Clark)," Fenn said, using the example of Secretary of State Colin Powell, another top military figure who ultimately decided not to run in the 2000 presidential election because he "just didn't want to play" Washington politics.
Clark has found himself on the receiving end of Washington politics. After leading both NATO and the United States through the war in Kosovo to prevent a widespread humanitarian disaster, Joint Chief of Staff Hugh Shelton told Clark in a cell phone call that he would be relieved of his command. Speaking to UPI, Clark dismissed this ousting as "nothing but petty politics."
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan says what Clark did in Kosovo "was in some sense heroic ... He was willing to, you know, stand up for what he knew was right even though it had the potential to, and ended up, hurting his career," for a war in a country "a lot of people didn't know about and a lot of people didn't care about."
"The American people look for character," Brazile said. "Of course they look for experience, they look for stature and the rest, but they look at a man's -- a person's -- character as well and I think General Clark has an impeccable character and a very sound background so, we'll see."
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