Retired Gen. Wesley Clark announced his presidential candidacy today. Although it's hard to rule out a candidate after seeing millions of people vote in obviously absurd candidates like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Clark seems like a true long-shot. What's really interesting is the in-depth support being provided by various well-known Clintonistas and the Clintons themselves.
Clark's associates said yesterday he will run as a moderate southern Democrat in the tradition of fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton. Clark is surrounding himself with key operatives from the Clinton-Gore White House and campaigns. Among those expected to play key roles are Eli J. Segal, a former Clinton administration official who was chairman of Clinton's 1992 campaign; Donnie Fowler, former vice president Al Gore's 2000 field director; Ron Klain, a strategist for Gore; and Mark Fabiani, a communications specialist for Clinton and Gore. Bruce Lindsey, a close Clinton friend and a lawyer in the Clinton White House. Mickey Kantor, who played a key role in the Clinton-Gore campaign and was Clinton's commerce secretary, will also be helping Clark.via the Washington Times.
Seems to me that the Clintons have surveyed the current Democratic scene and perceive opportunity: a large field of weak candidates creating a chance for Hillary. If Clark can contribute to a dispersion of voter support and there is no clear Dem winner for the nomination after the primaries, then it's plausible to imagine a dream scenario: Hillary rides to the rescue as a white knight and is "drafted" without having to take the punishment of the primary campaign. With Clark as her putative VP, she can then go after Bush as a fresh voice. This also allows her to assess Bush's strength or weakness in the polls late next year vs. fourteen months before the election.
Bill gets to be campaign manager and pull the strings. Clark may not even be aware he's being set up. Or he may be complicit. Only time will tell.
One Bush-basher writing in New York Magazine is tantalized. His article is entitled "Dream Team."
It may be that in every election season, this exact what-if or who-else fantasy arrives just as—indeed precisely because—it is too late. But this time, uniquely, making the fantasy so much more compelling, the Democrats do have potential candidates who don’t need a year of prior brand-building and dues-paying and war-chest-accumulating and humping it all over the place to be as big and as scene-stealing as they would have to be.Posted by Alan at September 17, 2003 05:25 PMNow there’s the general—a liberal, even eggheaded, war-winning, southern-born four-star general. And, in some pageant-size fantasy, there’s the former First Lady—in an age when the true cost of any political or marketing campaign is the creation of recognition and brand, she is as famous, as iconic, as you can be. This may be an opportunity such as has never before been presented to one political party.