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I can see the same realities as you can, and there is a time and a place to discuss them. Now is not that time, though this may be that place.
First off, your use of the word pitiful honestly seems insulting to Clark and everyone else who has supported him, when you look at the actual facts. Clark has never previously run for any office, and already he has outlasted Senator and former Governor Bob Graham, Congressman and former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, and Senator and former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman, in this race. Clark defeated all of the non New England Candidates in the NH Primary, and unlike Howard Dean he has actually won a primary. No one other than John Kerry has won more contests than Wesley Clark. Clark is in a statistical polling tie with Edwards for second in the Tuesday primaries. Clark is polling stronger than Edwards or Dean for the follow up Wisconsin primary, even though Dean has pegged it as must win for his candidacy. We can argue about whether or to what degree Clark has been disappointing. Pitiful, I repeat, is not only an unfair characterization, it feels insulting.
You remind me of AFSME pulling their endorsement of Dean while the results from Washington were still being counted, only 10 days before Dean's do or die contest in Wisconsin. People are busting their butts making phone calls to Tennessee, and you are posting this thread while we do so. Obviously you could have waited two days to see what fruit those efforts would bear, but though you remind us of your support for Clark, you chose not to wait those two days that we are using to actively campaign. Perhaps if it was all a forgone conclusion, I would have more understanding of your timing. Clark may be a long shot at this point, but he is not out of it.
I can give you two solid reasons for saying that. Number One, Kerry is a newly minted "Front Runner". If you look at the changing polls over a six week period it is obvious that Kerry did not have deep support that has stuck by him and built. Kerry doesn't have the deep bedrock support of a, say, Hillary Clinton, and Kerry did not suddenly burst on the National scene either. Kerry had the good fortune of being an active campaigner in Iowa when the wheels were falling off of Dean's campaign. Kerry has done some things right also, but that is the root of his winning "momentum". Kerry wasn't Dean, he also wasn't perceived as a spent force like Gephardt, and he had international experience unlike Edwards. The voters had to go somewhere. Voters want a winner this year against Bush, and right now Kerry is winning.
Even the media will concede that unexpected things can happen in an election cycle that suddenly doom a front runner. Here is a short list of people who were all but pre ordained to be the likely nominee before their campaigns unexpectedly seemingly self destructed: Ed Muskie, Hugh Romney, Gary Hart, and Howard Dean. Yet by writing public obituaries for the Clark campaign now you potentially discourage others from fighting for him today making it less likely that Clark will be positioned as the candidate best able to pick up the pieces if Kerry should fall. And here is Number Two. Clark is the candidate best positioned to pick up the pieces if Kerry should stumble, because Clark not Edwards is better able to win most of Dean's voters if Dean fails to make a comeback, and Dean is in a weaker position than Clark is right now. Dean is going to have unfortunately lousy numbers in both Virginia and Tennessee on Tuesday. He can not build any momentum heading into Wisconsin, but Clark still can.
Clark is very well positioned to finish stronger than Edwards in both of those states, that is very doable if supporters of Clark like yourself remain a small minority in his camp, and we keep WORKING to win. Regardless of what Kerry does in those two states can you see what that would mean? Edwards would no longer be the golden boy with all of that forward momentum. Edwards would no longer be the candidate who can win the South, Clark will be. If Clark finishes above Edwards on Tuesday, Edwards will have only bested Clark in one of four Southern States, the one he was born in. Clark will be the surprise story coming out of Tuesday, more so than Kerry even. Clark will be the number two man in the race, not Dean or Edwards. Clark will start getting media attention for the first time in a month. Dean has already had it. Edwards has already had it. Kerry has already had it, only Clark HASN'T had it. Clark is the only candidate left in this race with unexploited upside potential.
Once it becomes a two person race, many of the dynamics of this race will shift. Everything I have listed above is doable, even without a Clark victory on Tuesday, and I still think one is possible. First, I DO NOT TRUST Zogby polls, period. Second, there are a lot of undecided voters in Tennessee. We can still make this happen, and I would rather not have to be using time one day before the elections responding to a Clark Supporter post like yours.
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