Gephardt's ex-staffers find Clark to liking

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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/01/23/gephardts_ex_staffers_find_clark_to_liking/

Twenty-five field operatives from Representative Richard A. Gephardt's organization in Iowa have signed on with the campaign of Wesley K. Clark, but only after being turned away by Senator John Edwards's campaign for budget reasons.

Gephardt's campaign staff has begun to scatter following his defeat in Iowa Monday and abrupt withdrawal from the race the next day. His South Carolina director, Ike Williams, has signed on with the Edwards team in that state, which votes Feb. 3, a week after the New Hampshire primary.

Williams's former boss, US Representative James E. Clyburn, was being courted by all of the major candidates after Gephardt's pullout. Clyburn, the most influential African-American politician in South Carolina, has not yet said who, or if, he will back another candidate. He endorsed Gephardt in December.

Meanwhile, John F. Kerry's campaign announced that a 34,000-member local of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Michigan had endorsed the Massachusetts lawmaker after he won Iowa.

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