Clark's key to success, don't become the anti-Dean candidate.

[burr]

From The American Prospect...
"But if Clark ends up positioned as the anti-Dean candidate, the consequences could prove more severe.

Indeed, the relation of Clark's campaign to Dean's bears some resemblances to that of Robert Kennedy's to Eugene McCarthy's back in 1968, another year when antiwar sentiment swept the Democratic Party. It was McCarthy who plunged into that race first, when Lyndon Johnson was thought to be unassailable, and McCarthy who caught fire with Democratic liberals increasingly angered by Johnson's deepening involvement in the Vietnam War.

Only after the Tet offensive and McCarthy's initial electoral success in New Hampshire did Bobby Kennedy announce that he, too, was running for president on an antiwar platform, arguing that he was a far more electable candidate than McCarthy.

The dynamic between the two campaigns was awkward at best; some McCarthy supporters switched camps, and the bitterness within the McCarthy ranks swelled as Kennedy began winning primaries. Kennedy himself was always cognizant, however, that he'd need the McCarthy volunteers after the primary season ended and calibrated his comments to that end.

Clark now faces a challenge similar to Kennedy's: how to campaign as a largely antiwar candidate, and the more electable one at that, without estranging the legions of Dean supporters who believe, as Gene McCarthy's followers once did, that their guy is the genuine article. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination is going to need Dean's volunteers, and Clark best positions himself to claim them by making the kind of speech he delivered at the Citadel on Monday, affirming an America that welcomes dissent in wartime and understands that unilateralism is a strategic dead end. Having his potential handlers proclaim that he's the Stop-Dean candidate, by contrast, would undercut his appeal to many of his own supporters, let alone Dean's."

<http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/webfeatures/2003/09/meyerson-h-09-25.html>

[w13rd0]

1. I agree...

...if Clark wants the nomination, or gets the nomination, he's going to have to "win me over", I'm "non-transferrable" by edict alone. Some of his supporters here would do well to keep that in mind, and vice versa regarding Dean and Clark supporters...

[Meshuga]

2. If Clark wins the nomination...

He doesn't have to win me over. He has my support... Any of the candidates would have my support. I would have a hard time supporting Lieberman but I know he has no chances!

[DrFunkenstein]

3. Go Wiggle!

The sad, bitter truth is that Lieberman is a much, much better candidate than Bush. I don't think he has a shot in hell - not only because he's a self-righteous prig, but also because he's run a thoroughly mediocre campaign.

That said, Bush must go!!!