Anyone Notice Clark Tried To Upstage The Kerry And Edwards Announcements?

[DrFunkenstein]

On the day Kerry announced, Clark went on TV and said he was definitely a Democrat. On the day Edwards announced, Clark leaked that he was 99% sure. Interestly, the week before Clark announces, Dean leaks a total non-story that he was trying to get him as his VP (or at least a supporter).

Alot of dirty dealings, but I guess that's why they call it politics. But it definitely stains these guys in my book for being underhanded.

It wasn't too bad for Kerry, but I feel rotten for Edwards, who's day of glory got needlessly trickled on.

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[xray s]

1. We are going to need someone who plays hardball...

...to knock the chimp out of office.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being Nixonian hell, I would rate this a 1.001 on the dirty tricks meter.

[virtualobserver]

2. what are you talking about?

Did Kerry and Edwards get exclusive media reservations for the day?

[dfong63]

11. i agree with this sentiment,

but it's still kind of funny to contrast this attitude with all the threads that have popped up in the last few days, speculating about what kind of "dirty trick" Karl Rove had planned to distract the public on the day of Clark's hoped-for announcement.

[_NorCal_D_]

28. Yes

I don't believe that Clark was trying to steal thunder from Edwards or Kerry.

At the very least, it's certainly not a 'dirty trick'.

[carpetbagger]

14. oops- tagged it to the wrong post.

n/t

[AP]

15. Did any of the other candidates try to step on Kerry's toes?

I think the media was going to ignore Edwards anyway, so I actaully think it was flattering to Edwards that Clark tried to step on his toes. (He could have leaked his announcement when Kerry anounced just a couple days ago.)

By the way, Edwards's announcement footage will probably be turned into some great campaign commercials. What a beautiful, sunny day, and what a good looking crowd. The mill was a fantastic backdrop too. So, regardless of the media coverage yesterday, I'm sure Edwards will get great mileage from yesterday's visuals as the campaign progresses.

[Kahuna]

20. The media wasn't kind to Edwards at all yesterday...

They treat him like, "Mr. Cellophane" from the movie, "Chicago."

They were like, ho hum. Who is this guy and why is he bothering us with this announcement?

[Rowdyboy]

3. No one automatically "owns" a day...

Had Edwards been smokin' like Dean, his news would have blown Clark off the map. He isn't. The "news" that he's running for president is nine months old now. Should all the other candidates schedule around his ego?

I like Edwards. I think he's highly electable if he could win the nomination but so far Democrats have shown absolutely no interest in promoting him to the White House. I respect Edwards, but he hasn't shown the capacity to win.

[virtualobserver]

4. must be Senatorial entitlement......

how dare these upstarts steal their nomination.

[carpetbagger]

16. And no one owns a month.

He's had the Iowa thing scheduled for some time.

[genius]

5. I noticed that Edwards had nice things to say

when they asked him about Clark. We should underestimate Edwards.

[sandnsea]

6. He didn't get to General being a nice guy

The military is as political as any institution in D.C. We really shouldn't forget that.

[Maple]

7. You begin

as you mean to go on.

[CoffeePlease1947]

8. I think it was the other way around, Edwards already announced!

I mean, was anyone shocked that Edwards was running? I thought he announced months ago. I don't know, maybe I am wrong, but the "Edwards for President" signs and his saying "I am running for President" I guess through me off for sure!

Mike

[virtualobserver]

9. I had wondered when I saw him in the debates.......

I guess he wanted to see how those turned out before he decided.

[dfong63]

10. i don't see it as a big deal

Edwards' formal announcement is kind of a non-event anyway, since he's been running for months. a real candidate has to keep himself in the news on a continual basis. if Edwards can be seriously hurt by a little blip like this, or by failing to get the hoped-for boost from this one-time non-event, then he doesn't stand a chance anyway.

as for Clark - i think a lot of people have reached the limit of their patience with his teasing. i think he's "jumped the shark", to borrow a phrase from the lounge.

[OneBlueSky]

12. it's called politics . . . get used to it . . . n/t

.

[DrFunkenstein]

21. Is That What It's Called?

"Alot of dirty dealings, but I guess that's why they call it politics."

This was the point of the post. Not that this was unusual, but precisely because it was usual. Not too many white knights floating in the waters.

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[VolcanoJen]

13. Well, he *is* running against Edwards and Kerry...

... and many have speculated that Clark has no political savvy, but watching his slow crawl to this announcement, and then witnessing the timing of yesterday's announcement, I'd have to say he's got savvy to spare. It seems prettty obvious that Clark's announcement was timed to drown out Edwards' speech yesterday, as was his "coming out" as a Democrat weeks ago during Kerry's announcement, and while it may not have been a nice tactic, it was indeed a smart thing to do politically.

In fact, the media has been trumpeting all day that Clark upstaged Edwards, and in doing so are probably giving the Clark camp exactly what they hoped for. Clark is hoping to become The Southern Candidate and The War Veteran Candidate, so I'm certain his people have their eye trained on Edwards and Kerry.

I did feel a bit bad for Edwards today, and still feel that he's the dark horse candidate in all of this. We certainly haven't heard the last from Edwards.

[renie408]

17. It bothered me at first

but I had just gotten back from the announcement and was REALLY high on Edwards. I was expecting to sit down to the TV and see some really great footage from Robbins. Instead I got, "Clark plans to announce tomorrow...oh, and Edwards announced today." That did steam me pretty good. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Edwards has been running awhile and his announcement isn't that big a deal outside of his campaign. Did anybody really pay that close attention when Kerry made his formal announcement? Did it give him a big boost in poll numbers? I think Edwards going on the Daily Show and stuff like that was what was really important. It showed the kind of good sport he is and will hopefully build on what I saw yesterday...a large percentage of younger people in the audience.

[carpetbagger]

18. Edwards announced on January 2.

If anything, it seems that Clark was originally heading to an announcement at the same time as Kerry (a time frame Clark had talked about for the whole summer, before Kerry set his time table). Clark moved his time table.

[Kahuna]

19. They knew what his announcement time table was...

Maybe they tried to upstage HIM. It's not like they weren't already announced and running.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. Tried to upstage?

He actually did upstage them.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. LOL.

I'll be taking a nap while the Kerry camp goes after Clark.

[babzilla]

24. clark, clark, clark, clark, clark

n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

26. More lol.

Soon to be Dean, Clark, Dean, Clark, Dean, Clark.

[killbotfactory]

29. A winning combination for sure..

Now the race is just to see who gets to be at the top of the ticket.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

30. I see it that way, too.

But you never know.

[Nashyra]

25. Let's see what the WH does to try to upstage Clark

That is what I have been very curious about. Quite possible that boob Negroponte will choose to talk about the veto in the UN yeaterday at the exact same time as Clark will announce. Any one care to guess?

[kang]

27. I thought it was Hurricane Isabel that upstaged Edwards

and most likely will hurt Clark's announcement today too. Nothing beats a good old natural disaster when it comes to news.

[DemDogs]

31. War may be war but

Class is class. I had expected better.