Edwards upstaged on his big day

[Freddie Stubbs]

LITTLE ROCK — Retired general Wesley Clark expands the Democratic field today with an announcement that he is running for president. That decision overshadowed the formal announcement Tuesday of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has been campaigning all year.

The developments underscored the fluid contest for the Democratic nomination. None of the nine current contenders has emerged with a commanding lead. Clark's decision to enter politics with a bid for the nation's highest office was seen as worth taking seriously in a year in which another candidate once seen as unlikely, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, has surged ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Merle Black, an expert in southern politics at Emory University in Atlanta, said Democrats who want to stop Dean might look to a southerner such as Clark or Edwards. "A lot of Democrats are interested in the potential of a Clark campaign," Black said. "But he is completely untested. We don't know what he is going to be. He may be all-world, or he may be all-nothing."

Clark, 58, a retired four-star general who disclosed he was a Democrat only this month, huddled here with advisers. They include veterans from the party's two most recent nominees, Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Officials close to Clark were trying to meld two independent draft-Clark movements into the campaign.

more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-09-16-edwards-clark-usat_x.htm