Clark Represents Kerry at Kansas State Democratic Dinner

[Adelante]

Former Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark will visit Topeka on Friday to speak for front-running candidate Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

Kansas Democratic Party leaders said Monday that Clark, a retired Army general, will represent Kerry at the party's annual banquet, scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Ramada Inn Downtown.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had said she encouraged Kerry to make an appearance at the dinner, which precedes the party's state committee meeting on Saturday. In a news release Monday, Sebelius said she was pleased that Clark would attend.

<snip>

Kerry had declined but will be represented by Clark, who has dropped out of the race but will be on the caucus ballot. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards hasn't decided whether to accept the invitation, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich has declined. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has dropped out of the race but also still will be on the caucus ballot.

Source: The Topeka Capital-Journal 3/2/04


Ad Astra Dinner
Kansas State Democratic Party
Friday, March 5th at 8pm
Ramada Inn in Topeka
Featured Speaker: Wesley Clark

[in_cog_ni_to]

1. Lucky Ducks!

Wish I lived in Topeka. :cry:

[MuseRider]

4. Now that

is a first! No you don't, believe me. You do not want to live in Topeka.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. LOL!

Ok....how's about...I wish I could "visit" Topeka for the Kansas Democratic State Dinner?" ;)

[Adelante]

7. Jump on a plane and crash the party!

I've heard of at least four Clark-supporter tables. You can sit on somebody's lap. :)

I wanna go!! :cry:

[Jai4WKC08]

16. Hee hee

I'm going. :bounce:

[MuseRider]

19. Are you in Topeka?

Hey, I am really interested in going but had not heard about his until the paper today. After telling the party people my candidate of choice I have been frozen out of most communication until the other day when I got the "pat on the head" and "too bad" treatment. Anyway, if you are going and I can get there I would love to meet you.

[Jai4WKC08]

29. Not in Topeka

I live over in Johnson County, about an hour away.

There are 15-20 of us Clark supporters attending together who have reserved seats at, so far, 3 tables. It should be fairly easy to pick us out. :)

[sleipnir]

20. I'll second that thought!!!

I never thought in a million years I'd hear someone wanting to actually live in Topeka.....wow....that's a shocker... ;)

[MuseRider]

21. Ahh come on

you know you miss it. At least you must miss your daily dose of Phelps. Lucky you being away.

[sleipnir]

22. There's no one to honk my horn at in anger each week...

Ah Phelps, when will you come back to the East Coast so I can go heckle you like the ole' days???.....

[MuseRider]

24. I am ashamed to admit this

but my children learned early what it means to flip off someone. "Mommy, why do you stick your finger at those people with the leap frog signs every day?" I didn't really regret it until I learned that they had been practicing that particular move at the ages of 3 and 4! Sorry about the hijacking of the thread.

[Adelante]

25. Nah

Thanks for the kick. :)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Sound a lot like...

someone's running for VP. Not that I would mind this in the least. Clark would whup Cheney.

[Adelante]

13. Well, Kerry asked him to sub for him

If that means anything. :shrug:

[Leilani]

3. Thanks for the update!

Happy to hear what Clark is doing!

[Thrill]

6. Clark is doing some heavy

campaigning for Kerry. I'm begining to believe he may be the VP choice.

[DancingBear]

8. Speaking words of wisdom,

let it be.

<crossing fingers, thinking good thoughts>

[JI7]

11. Wes Clark is qualified to be President

which is one of the most important things when considering vp choices as john kerry himself said. but if kerry wins the nomination, i don't think he will pick clark because clark is not a politician in the negative sense. it's weird because this is actually a good quality, but it hurts people during election time. and during presidential races it's often left to the vp to go negative more than the presidential candidate so clark will probably not be chosen.

[Jai4WKC08]

15. Not so fast...

"...during presidential races it's often left to the vp to go negative more than the presidential candidate so clark will probably not be chosen."

Seems to me that General Clark has pretty damned effective at "going negative" against the Bush administration. This argues more FOR his selection than against.

But I agree that his not being an experienced politician works against him, and I'm not convinced Kerry will give Clark the VP nod.

That said, most of Clark's missteps as a politician had more to do with putting together and managing his campaign staff, and perhaps listening to advice he should not have. By himself, he is articulate, comfortable in front of the camera, quick on his feet, and has a vast wealth of background knowledge. Yes, he misspoke a few times, but they all do--a competent communications director might have gone a long way to mitigate the damage. Or not--there were "forces at work" against him. Same forces as against any viable Democrat, but they did seem to focus on Clark early.

It may be that Kerry figures with his own campaign staff running the show, he can take advantage of Clark's strengths and compensate for any weakness, perceived or real.

It has appeared to me that Clark has gotten more positive press since he dropped out than for the full 5 months he was running. For some reason, I don't think it's a matter of the media being kind or soft. More likely, somebody's been putting the information out there, and it hasn't been the Clark campaign.

Oh well, we can only hope.

But I also agree that Clark is campaigning for Kerry because he wants Bush OUT, and not for any personal gain. He said he would do anything to help take back the White House, and he has always been a man to live up to his committments.

[JI7]

18. i don't mean negative in that way

of course he would criticize bush. he is good on the issues that matter and pointing out how bush is wrong. but i meant negative as a politician has to be sometimes to win and it involves doing things that don't always have to do with the issues that matter. kind of like kerry talking about how he has been in the democratic party his whole life unlike some others (referring to clark). and calling people washington insiders as dean and later edwards did to kerry.

[JI7]

9. John Kerry is a lucky man to have a friend like Wes Clark

as a kerry supporter i really appreciate it. just the endorsement in itself was nice, but clark is actually doing some campaigning for kerry and that's really something. they were both friends far before the primary started so i know clark really does like kerry and he isn't doing this to try to get something as some have suggested.

[Adelante]

12. I tend to agree

Wes feels the urgency for rescuing the nation from chaos. He will do what it takes without thought of his own interests, whatever they may be. He believes in John Kerry. I do believe they believe in each other. Any doubt I may have had was settled at the endorsement rally in Wisconsin.

[Jai4WKC08]

17. I've been watching the other endorsements

That rally in Wisconsin was really something different. Certainly doesn't mean Clark's a done deal, and I don't want to get my hopes up in any case, but...

"General Clark is not going to stand behind me; he's going to stand beside me in this great battle to take America back..." -- Senator John Kerry

[Adelante]

23. I wish I had a videotape

It was so beautiful. :)

[Jai4WKC08]

28. You can view or download it

The C-SPAN coverage is at http://www.us4clark.com/mediaclips.html

Top right video (as I type this)

[Kahuna]

10. Bwaaa! I miss Wes.

:cry:

[BootinUp]

14. Thanks for the update!

He's still a busy boy. Good sign of things to come. :)

[Mz Pip]

26. Thanks for the update

I hope Clark does some stumping for Kerry in CA. I'll definitely be there. :-)

MzPip
:dem:

[HuskerDem]

27. Might have to take a trip to Kansas

I still need to get his signature on Winning Modern Wars.

God I miss him.