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In His Latest Campaign, Gen. Clark Keeps the Media on the Perimeter
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 23, 2003; Page C01
NEW YORK
In a narrow, overheated Hunter College hallway, Wesley Clark is sound-biting his way through a series of brief television interviews when he is abruptly thrown on the defensive.
"Many Democrats saw you as possibly the best candidate to oppose Bush because of your impressive military credentials, thinking that your experience would give you free license to attack the president's policy in Iraq," says Dominic Carter of New York 1 News. "Instead, you flip-flopped in the first week of your candidacy. . . . If you can't even get your feelings expressed on an issue that you're supposedly an expert on, why should Americans trust you?"
No sooner does Clark insist that he never changed his position on Iraq than Carter gets him to admit that he voted for George H.W. Bush in 1988. Then Carter moves in for the kill: "Have you ever broken any laws of this country or engaged in illegal drug use?"
The answer is a crisp, smiling, unequivocal no -- but moments later Clark chases the burly reporter down the hall to cryptically add: "Not that I know of."
For a four-star general accustomed to studying and outwitting the enemy, this is unfamiliar terrain. Although the newest Democratic presidential candidate is raising ample money, connecting with crowds and scoring well in national polls, he has gotten off to a rocky start with the media.
In a brief exchange, Clark sounds mystified that he's still being pressed about his apparent wobble on the Iraq war. "There's no story there. . . . I don't know why they keep doing it," he says. "Just about anything's fair in this business. . . . I guess I have to answer each reporter."
There's little question that the Clark camp feels burned by the early barrage of negative headlines and has changed strategy accordingly. When a press charter plane was rolled out for the first time, Clark -- unlike most of the candidates, who use the opportunity to schmooze with reporters -- flew on a different plane. A typical day on the trail includes only a brief "availability" for journalists, who might mar the daily message.
USA Today correspondent Jill Lawrence traveled with Clark to Iowa, Oklahoma and Arkansas but had to battle for two 15-minute sessions with the candidate for her front-page story. She considers herself fortunate.
"They sandwiched me in two days in a row for not much time, but adequate," Lawrence says. "His press office is definitely a work in progress, and so is his relationship with the press. He's not used to such sustained contact with reporters."
Marcia Kramer, a WCBS-TV correspondent, attributed the "ridiculous" assembly-line interviews here to "a fledgling campaign trying to find their way. Was the best way to move-'em-in, move-'em-out without having any way to establish a relationship with the candidate? No."
Kevin Freking, a reporter for Clark's hometown paper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, says he and another journalist accompanied Clark on a trip to Phoenix. "There was virtually no interaction between us and the general, other than less than a minute when he got off the flight. Clearly, they were not trying to make him available."
Mark Fabiani, Clark's top strategist, insists he's not trying to shield his candidate.
"We've certainly seen our share of 'gotcha' stories," he says. "Some of that is inevitable because the campaign literally started from scratch. There was no research, no vetting of the candidate, nothing."
The good news, says Fabiani, is that "there's scrutiny because he's seen as a real threat to the president."
One reason that traveling reporters aren't getting more access, says Fabiani, a top lieutenant in Al Gore's 2000 campaign, is that Clark's time is consumed by fundraising and other priorities. Fabiani says he has also carved out time for journalists writing long profiles for such publications as the New Yorker and The Washington Post.
"I'm a strong believer in access," Fabiani says. "But we have a campaign where everyone wants to travel with him, everyone wants to talk to him on a daily basis."
Clark, an optimistic man who loves to talk, might have been expected to have a natural chemistry with the media. He has an easy smile and an aura of celebrity, and he mastered the art of brevity as a CNN military analyst during the Iraq war.
But he quickly learned the danger of unscripted encounters. On Sept. 18, his first day as a candidate, Clark spoke with four reporters on his maiden flight from Arkansas to Florida and soon had to shout "Mary, help!" to a press aide. A longtime critic of President Bush's Iraq policy, he indicated he would have supported the congressional resolution authorizing the war:
"At the time, I probably would have voted for it, but I think that's too simple a question," Clark said, adding: "I don't know if I would have or not. I've said it both ways. . . . On balance, I probably would have voted for it."
Thinking out loud is not an asset in a presidential campaign, and the media pounced.
Over the next several weeks, there were stories about Clark's lack of specificity; his 2001 praise for the Bush administration at a GOP fundraiser; his role as a $300,000-a-year director of an information company that had raised privacy concerns; his delay in registering as a Democrat; the abrupt resignation of his campaign manager; and his practice of continuing to give paid speeches as a candidate (he returned the money).
"Clark's Camp Makes Rookie Mistakes," said the Los Angeles Times.
The candidate often employs blandness as a media strategy. On Capitol Hill three weeks ago, Clark stopped to take a few questions before a get-acquainted session with 70 House Democrats. After introducing himself -- "My name's Wes Clark," as if the assemblage were't quite sure -- he said things like: "There's a lot of momentum here. The staff's forming, political positions are developing."
Asked about the Bush administration's leaking of a CIA operative's identity, Clark said he wanted a commission to investigate. Asked about foreign policy, he said, "Democracies in the world have many more issues that unite them than divide them."
After waiting nearly an hour for the meeting to break up, Newsday's Elaine Povich shouted a question at Clark, asking why an outsider candidate would be seeking support from so many Washington insiders. "I'm an insider; I'm an outsider. I defy labels," Clark said before slipping into a waiting car.
Povich was frustrated. "The reporters are not going to go away, and the questions are not going to get any easier," she says.
There was similar grumbling after Clark's Hunter College speech. The half-dozen TV correspondents waiting in the hallway for their five-minute interviews had been promised separate sessions but were bunched together in the tight space, where everyone could hear the questions and answers. Aides finally had the reporters wait outside until their turn came.
Many of the questions were softballs. "What is your vision for America, General Clark?" asked Marvin Scott of WPIX-TV. The candidate answered those smoothly, but he brushed aside political queries with military crispness.
"Your critics, Lieberman and Dean, are accusing you of being all over the lot" on Iraq, said WNBC's Gabe Pressman.
"I don't pay any attention to that," Clark said.
He told Carl Cameron of Fox News, "I like Joe Lieberman, but I think my record on Iraq's been very consistent."
WCBS's Kramer asked whether some of the lower-tier candidates should get out of the race so the public could focus on the serious contenders.
"That's not for me to say."
What about Dean's latest barb, that Clark had once advised a congressional candidate to support the Iraq war resolution?
"I like Howard Dean. I don't have any reaction to his statement."
Exasperated, Kramer asked, "Is there anything I can get you to make a statement on?"
"I think what America needs is a new approach to patriotism," Clark said.
Afterward, Kramer says, "I gave him a real easy opportunity to make news. He ducked every question." On the other hand, Dave Evans of WABC-TV asked Clark to autograph a copy of his book on foreign policy.
Clark's schedulers did not allow any time for newspaper interviews. Weeks earlier, however, Clark showed he understood the importance of the Internet by speaking with Joshua Micah Marshall of the Web site talkingpointsmemo.com.
The Clark camp is also learning to seize the offensive. After some former military leaders had denounced Clark, aides wanted to put out his military records, which contained praise from the likes of Al Haig and Colin Powell.
Three Washington Post reporters were offered an exclusive if they would agree in advance to publish a separate story on the records; all refused. The records were given to the New York Times and the Boston Globe -- which say no conditions were set -- spurring widespread coverage when the papers were made available to the rest of the press.
Fabiani says that his goal was "to get a comprehensive story out there that can be followed by different reporters" and that he had to weigh whether "someone wasn't sure he wanted to write a story."
As Clark fences with reporters, it becomes clear that he views himself not as a garden-variety presidential contender but rather as a patriot responding to a draft. "I'm not even a politician -- I'm the first one to tell you that," he says. |
