Clark campaign focuses efforts on New Hampshire
contracostatimes.com
By Paul Schwartzman
WASHINGTON POST
Posted on Mon, Jan. 12, 2004
MANCHESTER, N.H. - The five-day campaign swing had been arranged in detail, everything from a fund-raiser in California to a homeland security speech in New York, to a charter plane to transport the growing horde of reporters following the candidate.
Wesley K. Clark even planned to sneak in a visit with his 3-week-old grandson in Los Angeles.
But with the retired Army general's poll numbers climbing steadily in New Hampshire -- from 12 percent to 20 percent in five days, according to one survey -- Clark and his advisers abruptly changed direction Friday, scaling back the trip and announcing that he would remain focused on the Granite State.
"Something is happening here," said Chris Lehane, a senior adviser to Clark who keeps one eye on the candidate and another on the latest polling numbers flickering across his Blackberry. "We're going to stay here and grow the support."
The decision is the latest evidence of Clark's emerging strength in New Hampshire, where he has stumped for the past week and a half.
During the same time, most of his Democratic rivals have campaigned in Iowa, with the exception of Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut who, like Clark, chose to skip that state's caucuses.
On Saturday, Clark delivered a speech to college students in Manchester, then flew to Wisconsin and North Dakota.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean retains a formidable lead in the state -- as much as 15 percentage points in one survey -- but Clark's support rose by about 2 points a day this past week, pushing him past Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts into second place.
The retired general is counting on a strong showing in the Jan. 27 primary to boost him in South Carolina, Arizona and Oklahoma, among seven states holding primaries the following week.
"He's coming up very quickly; he seems to be touching a chord," said William G. Mayer, a political science professor at Northeastern University and author of "The Making of the President 2004."
Clark's improving fortunes, advisers said, have helped fuel fund raising and left the campaign scrambling to accommodate larger audiences.
A town hall meeting that was scheduled at a middle school in Keene this past week drew more than twice the expected crowd, and was moved to the town's high school.
But Clark's rise has also triggered new attacks, not only from Dean, but also from the Republican National Committee, which a week ago issued two statements dismissing his candidacy.
And it is likely to prompt renewed and more rigorous scrutiny of his record as NATO commander, his evolving stance on the war in Iraq, and his past support for Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
"The better he does, the more likely the attacks and the questions about what he's done," said Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who advised the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996.
Even with Clark's rise, it is far from certain that he can maintain the momentum. This is New Hampshire, after all, where seemingly strong candidates have been known to crumble at the finish, even though some went on to win the nomination.
Adding to the unpredictability is that Iowa is the first to hold its contest, the results of which have foretold nothing about New Hampshire's. George W. Bush won Iowa in 2000, then was trounced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in New Hampshire.
"New Hampshire has envy of Iowa for being first. They don't want to have any direction set by Iowa," Mayer said. "It's a very volatile state."
A political novice, Clark entered the race to glowing national poll numbers nearly five months ago, counting on his military record and his Southern roots -- he is from Little Rock, Ark., -- to draw Democratic voters yearning for a candidate who could match up with Bush.
But Clark's inexperience as a candidate led to early blunders, the worst of which was when he said he "probably" would have supported a congressional resolution authorizing war in Iraq, then recanted the statement the next day. In his stump appearances, he often failed to ignite crowds.
Yet, in recent weeks, Clark has emerged with a new, more focused message, one whose mantra -- "I want to bring a higher standard of leadership to America" -- he seems to recite at every other turn.
The moments that draw the most applause are his sharp attacks on Bush, whom he chides for failing to capture Osama bin Laden and for taking the United States to war in Iraq.
"I don't think it's patriotic to take us into a war with Saddam Hussein that we didn't have to fight," he told an audience in Bedford this past week.
After spending the latter part of December in Southern states, Clark landed in New Hampshire on New Year's Eve and had the state much to himself while his opponents were mostly based in Iowa.
Clark plans to spend $1.8 million in New Hampshire, most of it on television advertising. The campaign has sent "American Son," a 15-minute infomercial about Clark's life, to 50,000 undecided voters in the state. The piece was created by television producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who made the same sort of video for Bill Clinton in 1992. |
