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Politics : Wesley Clark -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (305)	9/28/2003 1:36:40 AM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1414

Clark's Talk's cheap! He better be careful, he is talking out his a*s to get publicity. I think he has campaign managers and strategists in each of his ears and can't think straight. It won't be too long before he stumbles. That's too bad, he should slow down, there is still a long road ahead and he is trying to make too many headlines too quickly.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (305)	9/28/2003 9:00:51 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1414

With Clark drafted, volunteers' fight over boston.com By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff, 9/28/2003 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- There are sacrifices, and then there are sacrifices. Lots of political operatives go nomadic during campaign season, leaving home to live near candidates' headquarters. Larry Weatherford, 36, left his wife and children in Oklahoma this summer for something less secure: long hours, no pay, and a corner of sleeping space in a Little Rock loft dubbed "the barracks" -- all in the hope of getting a man he'd never met to run for president. This summer, while Wesley K. Clark, a retired Army general, was deciding whether to pursue the Democratic nomination, a few dozen volunteers put their lives on hold to pursue Clark. John Hlinko, 36, delayed proposing to his girlfriend while he spearheaded a group called Draft Wesley Clark. His brother-in-law, Josh Margulies, 33, spent months away from his pregnant wife to work with Hlinko on the cause. And Weatherford, political director of a separate group called Draft Clark 2004, lived with four 20- and 30-something volunteers in an apartment strewn with futons, mattresses, and a bit of hope: for a job, a career, a ride on the campaign of the moment. On the day of Clark's announcement, Weatherford, a political consultant from Moore, Okla., sat in a former Little Rock hotel that housed in the soon-to-close headquarters of Draft Clark 2004. Beer bottles were circulating; someone popped a champagne cork. But the mood was subdued, and the looming question was, "Now what?" Clark has promised that volunteers will "share a piece of the movement," but he also has assembled his own team of political veterans. It's unclear whether every draft leader will wind up with the job he wants, or a place at the decision making table. That's especially true given the not-so-warm relations between the main draft players, who had creative differences. Draft Wesley Clark sought publicity, collected donation pledges, and kept in close touch with Clark supporters who preached the sharing of ideas online. Draft Clark 2004 focused on old-school tactics, establishing field offices and local coordinators. "We concentrated on building an organization," Weatherford said. "We weren't as interested in gaining 15 minutes of fame." Already, some online supporters are grumbling about Clark's new aides, some of whom worked for Bill Clinton and Al Gore; the sluggishness of his online operation; the loss of the input they enjoyed when they were a movement without a candidate. Clark aides request more time. They haven't moved into a headquarters yet; they're still crammed into Clark's office and somebody's mobile home. Most draft leaders are staying in Little Rock, working as volunteers as they await official jobs and trying to resume some parts of their lives. Hlinko finally got engaged. There's a future to reflect on. And there's always the past. "No matter how far he goes," Weatherford mused, "we have changed the course of this election." © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.