(WP) Clark Express Losing Speed

[DJcairo]

Clark Express Is Losing Speed
Poised to Be the Anti-Dean, General Struggles as N.H. Race Changes
By Paul Schwartzman and David Von Drehle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 24, 2004; Page A01


NASHUA, N.H., Jan. 23 -- The appearance had a bit of a slapped-together feeling. In an auditorium that was packed for former Vermont governor Howard Dean a week ago, more than two dozen empty seats greeted retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark on Friday.

Carmelle Druchniak, director of college relations at Rivier College, said that Clark's campaign approached her about an event only within the past two days. And 10 a.m. on Friday is not exactly prime time for students, she noted.

"Meet another presidential candidate," yawned a sign outside the hall. After the stump speech, a tough question, off-message: Shouldn't Clark repudiate the charge by filmmaker Michael Moore, a Clark supporter, that President Bush is "a deserter"?

Clark declined, saying that while he "can't agree" with Moore, he is "entitled" to say it.

The whole event was "a mistake," campaign spokesman Matt Bennett allowed afterward, and a far cry from the hundreds of happy supporters who met Clark 10 hours later at a rally in Derry with actor Ted Danson. But it was a fair nutshell for the struggles of the Clark campaign with four days to go to the New Hampshire primary. Having hoped for a surge, Clark has been battling stagnation, spending precious days explaining past positions, grappling with current controversies, and trying to fine-tune both his rhetoric and his campaign organization.

Even Bennett acknowledged that Clark's momentum in the state has slowed since the victory of Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) in Monday's Iowa caucuses. Clark's own polls show that undecided voters have moved toward the Iowa winner. "Had anyone considered that John Kerry would win?" Bennett asked. "Kerry's got a lot of momentum here."

In other words, this is not going according to the general's plan.

snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43148-2004Jan23.html?nav=hptop_tb

[neverforget]

1. Writing him off without a vote being cast.

[Melodybe]

2. That stinks, with my faith in the man restored

I had my doubts not too long ago, but then I watched the media whores beat him to a pulp, I knew that they are afraid of Clark, too. Just watching that debate makes me ill, it stinks of dirty laudry. The smarm level was through the roof, it was obvious what they were trying to do. Lets get rid of Clark so they'll pick Kerry.

I honestly think that Dean and Clark scare them the most.

[Leilani]

16. I Agree

Without Clark & Dean in this thing, it is same old, same old.

[Catch22Dem]

3. Ya gotta remember one thing

Clark's stong second place in NH (prior to Iowa) was a huge surprise. He wasn't expecting to do much better than 4th and a strong 3rd was considered a good thing. Look for Clark to grab a large portion of Feb 3rd states.

[DJcairo]

4. IThe guy just does badly in the debates

He sounds scripted and some of his past statements are just so embarassing for him. He's clearly capable but this just isn't his thing. It's Kerry-Edwards all the way. Dean dir. of Health and Human Services

[Leilani]

5. I think it's over

I am really depressed today. Every talking head & media pundit has criticized Clark on his debate answer re Moore/Deserter.

I had hoped that some would come forward & back Clark up, but the Dems have all distanced themselves from his remarks, & Kerry, when asked about it, dissed Clark.

I always thought 2nd place in NH was out of reach, running against 2 New Englanders, who were much more experienced. But I thought 3rd place would be respectable, he could then move on the South & Southwest, where he has more strength. He is 1st in New Mexico, Oklahoma, close with Dean in Arizona, etc etc. But there is now a possibility that he will fall to 4th.

The Repugs have been out to destroy him, FOX, with the help of Jennings has wounded him badly, & the Dems are driving in the final stake. After the debate last nite, Lieberman sent out anti-Clark memos to the press. It has been said another campaign did the same, but there is no proof of this.

I feel just like the Dean people felt after Iowa. A really great candidate, who could really take it to Bush is under attack & in trouble, & I am very pessimistic about our chances to win in Nov.
And I am most disappointed, because it's politics as usual. Nothing has changed.

[jmaier]

6. Don't react so quickly

The issue he's being pounded on is not a negative among Democrats. He will be well positioned for Feb 3rd as long as he finished above Edwards in NH. A good 2nd place would be gravy.

Kerry has real issues leaving NH. He has a lot of ground to make up in SC, AZ, NM, OK, etc. Clark has never been a probably winner but he certainly has a better shot today than he did going into December.

Chin up. :-)

[Leilani]

19. Thanks for your reply

Clark has always been a long shot, being a political novice, but I didn't expect the pile on today.

There is legit info out there about Bush/AWOL, & no one has stepped up.

Additionally, on another thread, I find out Kerry is still going after Clark, while pretending to be Mr.Clean.

Clark has made plenty of mistakes, but I'm really disgusted with the system that makes it impossible for an outsider to suceed.

[DJcairo]

7. Listen man, a lot has changed

Your guy Clark and certainly Dean shook up this race and forced candidates, particularly Kerry to reexamine why they were running for President and to come up with stronger messages. Their early setbacks and your early successes helped make them strong alternatives to Bush. Without them, this race would have ended up like Gore-Bush in 2000.

[jmaier]

11. Kerry may be a stronger primary

candidate because of the 'push' but his electoral calculus against Bush is no better now than it was pre-Iowa. As the nominee, he'll have my support but he is WEAKER in the GE than Gore was in 2000 by a very wide margin. And he's running against an incumbent.

[Old and In the Way]

10. IMHO, it's still a race for the top 4.

Kerry/Dean will be tops in NH, considering their geographic proximity. But if Clark beats Edwards, that makes his candidacy more potent going into the next southern primary.


I don't want to see anyone runaway with this yet, for lots of tactical reasons.....regardless, I hope/expect that the General will be a major player in the next Democratic administration.

[kayleybeth]

12. The way I look at it:

I'm a diehard Clark supporter. I saw the bad press coverage today but wasn't nearly as upset about it as others seem to be. I was actually surprised it took the media so long to bring out the big knives (interesting timing though, wasn't it?).

But as far the bad media coverage goes, Clark will either weather it or he won't. If he can't handle it now, he probably won't be able to handle it in November, so it's best to find out now.

I'm not too worried about it though. I believe Clark CAN handle it. And, as Iowa has proven, things can change VERY quickly in a fluid race like this.

But.. even if he finishes 4th in New Hampshire, Clark is still very much in this race. He is doing great in several Feb. 3rd states, and don't forget... Clark has raised almost $2 million on the internet alone since January 9th... over $750,000 of that IN THE LAST SIX DAYS. And there's no signs of donations slowing.

So the media can go suck an egg. I will work my tail off for Clark until the end, whether he drops out of the race or goes all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. :-)

GO WES GO!

[Shanty Oilish]

8. If Mr. Moore is entitled to say Bush is a deserter

Moore should be entitled to set fire to a flag also. It's his opinion in a free country.
Clark favors a ban on such opinions.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/clark/articles/2003/11/12/clark_backs_a_ban_on_flag_burning/

"MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Retired Army General Wesley K. Clark, who has repeatedly decried the Bush administration for discouraging dissent, said yesterday he would support a constitutional amendment that outlawed desecration of the American flag..."

[matte751]

13. Flag Burning

Clark's campaign is, to a large extent, grounded in patriotism, and how the Repubs have tried, over the past three years, to co-opt that issue. As a Clark supporter, I've got to say that I think there's no reason to make a Constitutional issue over this. Flag burning is a form of free speech, but it's akin to book burning. It's a statement that cuts across such a huge swath of ideals that it loses its point in the fire. In a campaign that's about patriotism--about how America needs to regain its identity at home and on the world stage--how else do you expect him to react to that issue?

[bain_sidhe]

9. Gee, I wonder why?

In an auditorium that was packed for former Vermont governor Howard Dean a week ago, more than two dozen empty seats greeted retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark on Friday.

Oh? And how big is the auditorium? How many seats weren't empty? Funny, they don't say...

a far cry from the hundreds of happy supporters who met Clark 10 hours later at a rally in Derry

Funny, they didn't report on that rally... lessee, one smaller than hoped for, one chock full... given a choice of two events, apparently the only one that merits being reported on is the one with "two dozen empty seats."

Having hoped for a surge, Clark has been battling stagnation, spending precious days explaining past positions, grappling with current controversies, and trying to fine-tune both his rhetoric and his campaign organization.

Gee, I wonder why he has to spend all those precious days "explaining past positions" and "grappling with current controversies"?

Hmm. It's a mystery!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

15. I wonder why

when you posted this quote:

"a far cry from the hundreds of happy supporters who met Clark 10 hours later at a rally in Derry"

you left out the beginning and end of the sentence:

"The whole event was "a mistake," campaign spokesman Matt Bennett allowed afterward, and a far cry from the hundreds of happy supporters who met Clark 10 hours later at a rally in Derry with actor Ted Danson."

lol, there is some star power at work here, but it's not Clark's.

[Maddy McCall]

18. No offense, but does anyone really give a shit about Ted Danson anymore?

Can't imagine Danson being considered "star power." Maybe in New Hampshire things are different than here.

[maxr4clark]

14. Disagree completely

Clark surged, and has held, about 8 points in NH he did not have before the beginning of the year. His strategy does not require winning in NH; with three New England candidates, he has been more focused on Feb 3rd states and beyond. Clark is gaining steam here in WA; we vote Feb 7th. His fundraising went very well in Q4 of 2003, and has been accelerating rapidly since.

There is no love for Clark from either of the Parties; they don't want the message to get out that a competent, decent man can be an independent all his life, serve his country well, gain respect, and then run for President--all without the help of any political party. That's what a successful outsider candidate is: someone who attracts support on the basis of their ability and character, not through long-standing relationships with the political and media machines. When Dean claimed to be an outsider, he only meant that he didn't get along well with the Party leaders. He didn't mean he had no political support network to build on; that's why he got into the peculiar situation of being the "outsider" saddled with a bunch of (for him) embarrassing endorsements.

Personally, I care far more about the country than what the Party leaders want. I see Clark as extremely capable of doing what we so desperately need to do: restore America to the position it once held, leader of the free world. Bush has turned us into the bully of the free world instead, and our economy, self-respect, and security are suffering as a consequence.

How do I know that this is who Clark is? I've spent the past three months finding out what I can about him. On the Clark blog you can chat with people who have served with him, including a Sgt Chris Hernandez who was with him on a daily basis when he was NATO SACEUR. You should hear his glowing, and very personal praise of Clark. I've met his son; we chatted about his new baby, and how his wife feels about him being out campaigning for his dad. It takes good parents to raise a son like him. He's starting to show up on TV, take the opportunity to watch him sometime. And don't pass up the opportunity to see Clark's wife Gert, if you get it; she's quite a woman.

I have come to believe that Clark has, and has always had, only one agenda: to live a responsible life in service to his country. He also happens to be very intelligent, and to have precisely the right resume to deal with the situation in Iraq in the right way--a way that will earn back the respect of the rest of the world. Until he retired, he and his family have been firmly entrenched in the middle class--the same middle class I grew up in, in which people didn't think about owning more than one place to live, if they could afford to rise above renting. He has seen more racial equality practiced in the military than any of us in civilian life have seen anywhere in America, and he can show us the trailhead that will lead us that direction.

I've never done more than vote for a candidate in my 40 years of life. This candidate has inspired me to wear a button with his name on it, to wave signs at baseball games more than a year before the election and at cars passing through busy intersections in the cold Seattle rain, to contribute money, and to discuss issues and candidates here on the DU. I recently attended a meeting on how the caucuses work in our state, and volunteered to sign people in on Feb 7 for a caucus precinct that doesn't have a precinct officer to do it for them.

Despite voting Democratic in every election I've been eligible for, and never personally having served in the military, Wes Clark has inspired me to be an active member of the Democratic party. I've even started thinking about doing what I've been doing for Wes for the next Democratic contender in my local and state races.

Do not discount what Wes Clark can do for the Democratic party! He has already shown that Democrats do indeed care about foreign policy, and having its candidates have foreign policy experience. If he becomes President, he can show the people who always want to "vote strong on defense" that there is more to good foreign policy than a strong military; we need strong ideas, strong goals, and strong friendships, and these things are more important than a strong military overseas. He can show people like my brother and my father that they have a choice, to vote for someone who they can trust to preserve America's image abroad, and at the same time inspire Americans at home by his own example to live the ideals we hold so dear. When Wes shows America what it could be as the leader of the free world, America won't be tempted to elect another George W. Bush--at least not for a generation.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. What's Clark's voting record?

That's a common criteria people use to judge candidates.

[maxr4clark]

20. Yes it is

...and no Republican would EVER have voted for Clinton twice. If you think the only real Democrat is a lifetime Democrat, you'd better start having babies--the Repubs are out-reproducing us.

[cthrumatrix]

21. can the media "lay-off" clark and dean.... enough of this crap

Clark hasn't even had a primary and the debate attack was soo obvious... a washington outsider is definitely a target