Clark seen planning Democratic nomination bid By Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent
WASHINGTON -- In the strongest signal yet that retired US Army General Wesley K. Clark, the former NATO commander, is planning to join the Democratic presidential race, Clark told volunteers last week to step up their efforts and prepare for an announcement on Labor Day.
If Clark, 58, does take on the nine announced Democratic candidates, supporters say he would offer a strong voice on national security issues and sell himself as a newcomer untainted by the political process.
The grass-roots movement to draft the West Point graduate remains a campaign without a candidate. The Draft Clark Campaign 2004, which has no formal ties with Clark, has received pledges of nearly $500,000 and now has 98 chapters in 42 states.
But Clark, who has never held elective office, increasingly sounds like a candidate, mixing bristling attacks on President Bush's Iraq policy with criticism of the nation's growing budget deficit. Last week, volunteers said, he sent word to supporters to "crank up" their efforts, while he confers with his family before making a final decision.
Clark is now the only prominent Democrat still weighing a run for the White House. Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware said yesterday he would not seek the nomination.
Clark has begun to showcase his political instincts. Last week, in an interview with National Public Radio, he called Bush's decision to invade Iraq without international support "one of the greatest strategic blunders the American government has made since the end of the Cold War."
He has also moved beyond the realm of national security. Speaking on CNN, he recently blasted the Bush tax cuts, saying the growing deficit means "that the federal government can't do the kinds of things for America that Americans expect it to do. . . . That's things like taking care of our retirement security and Social Security."
The Draft Clark Campaign is gearing up to hand over its organization to the general.
"We are preparing for what we think is going to be a campaign starting around Labor Day," said Susan Putney, the volunteer director in New Hampshire of the Draft Clark Campaign. "We are reasonably assured he will throw his stars into the ring."
A native of Little Rock, Ark., Clark graduated first in his class at West Point and is a highly decorated Vietnam veteran. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and retired as a four-star general in 2000 after a 34-year career capped by the command of the successful 1999 NATO-led war to oust Serbian military forces from Kosovo.
But Clark, who now runs his own investment banking firm and is a CNN military analyst, is relatively unknown outside Washington. And political observers say a fight for the Democratic nomination would be an uphill battle. Supporters admit he is more of a resume at this point than a person.
"I think the fact that he is a general in a party that has a reputation as not close to the military and in fact has a rather wimpy reputation when it comes to foreign policy and national security makes him an interesting figure," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report in Washington. "But as a serious contender for the nomination, he is not very serious. It's too late. He has no organization; he starts at square one."
Yet a groundswell has been building in the form of draft Clark websites established by such diverse supporters as Women4Clark, Veterans For Clark, and a series of online efforts in Iowa and other battleground states. Supporters are unbowed by the odds. "I think I have a sense of what's doable and what's not, at least in New Hampshire," said George Bruno, former state Democratic party chairman. "Time is running out, but there is still a window of opportunity here for a person with the kinds of credentials and talents that General Clark offers. The field isn't becoming more settled; it's becoming more unsettled."