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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (34652)	1/9/2004 11:33:43 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Clark's campaign creating a buzz in New Hampshire ______________________ By Dana Hull Knight Ridder Newspapers Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004 realcities.com CONCORD, N.H. - The presidential campaign of former Gen. Wesley Clark is abuzz with the sense that he's starting to catch fire with New Hampshire voters, just in time. The state's first-in-the-nation Democratic primary is Jan. 27. The latest independent daily tracking poll shows Clark surging steadily from 12 percent support on Jan. 2 to 20 percent support by Jan. 8, which puts him in clear second place behind former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. The convoy of vans crammed with news media that follow Clark around grows daily. USA Today's lead headline Wednesday shouted "Clark closes in on Dean in poll." Chris Lehane, a senior campaign strategist who appears to spin in his sleep, often can be found glued to his wireless BlackBerry device, reading the campaign's encouraging internal poll numbers out loud to reporters. Even Madonna, the pop singer, recently endorsed Clark. "Clark's movement is real," said Andy Smith, the director of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire. "He's been here, whereas everyone else has been in Iowa. He's shown that he can raise money and pack a house. There is a sense that people are looking for a candidate other than Dean, and at this point Clark is the only plausible alternative candidate." History teacher Antonia Andreoli, 58, certainly sees it that way. "I was very active in going to Dean stuff, but I am changing my mind," Andreoli said after seeing Clark address 700 people Wednesday night at Keene High School. "Clark is more balanced, less confrontational and more consistent. He doesn't have to do constant damage control. And the whole thing with Dean sealing his records from when he was governor in Vermont really turned me off." Clark still faces tough questions. At recent forums, at least one person never fails to ask him why he voted for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, President Bush's father. Others profess that they're uneasy with the idea of a military man in the White House. Clark is skipping the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, which has allowed him to pour staff, resources and most importantly his time into New Hampshire. His campaign now has 10 field offices, 100 paid staffers and three advance teams. His newest stump speech - that he's running for president to bring a "Higher Standard of Leadership" to the White House - seems to be playing well. So is a heartwarming 15-minute campaign video that highlights his Arkansas childhood and military service in Vietnam and Kosovo. Clark has largely refused to attack his Democratic opponents by name, and saves his most stinging salvos for Bush and Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser. At a standing-room-only appearance Thursday night at Concord High School, Clark was asked what he thought of Bush's plan to give amnesty to illegal immigrants working in the United States. "I think it's a Karl Rove election-year political stunt," he said. Barbara Thomas, the librarian at Concord High, said she was planning to see Dean speak Friday night - but she's increasingly sure that Clark will get her vote. "My son is in the U.S. Naval Academy, in the Class of 2005," said Thomas, who described herself as an independent. "When I close my eyes and think about who I want to hand my son his diploma, I think it has to be Clark." New Hampshire voters are notoriously careful shoppers who take great pride in their first-in-the-nation primary. Some say the political landscape has shifted since the holidays, and that people are looking for reasons to make their final decisions. The attacks on Dean by his rivals are starting to stack up, sowing some doubts among voters. "Dean was the first to tap into the anger among Democrats, and that was very appealing," said Len Ziefert, 51, a probation officer from Concord. "But now people have had a kind of catharsis from the anger and are looking at electability. Clark came into the race late. He didn't have his voice for a while. But in the last two to four weeks, he's found it." --- The poll in graf 2 by the American Research Group was a telephone survey of 600 likely voters and has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.