Townhall columnist Jay Bryant explains in more depth what it means for Wesley Clark to act as a "stalking horse" for Hillary Clinton in the 2004 presidential campaign, along the same lines noted here two days ago.
The term "stalking horse" has pretty much gone out of favor in American politics, although at one time it came up in almost every presidential cycle. Its decline has reflected the decline of the importance of party conventions. Here's the Safire definition of a stalking horse: "a decoy; a candidate put forward to split a vote or deadlock a convention, concealing another candidate's plan."Wesley Clark is a stalking horse for Hillary Clinton.
That much is clear, but little else is. For example, there is the intriguing question of whether Clark knows he is a stalking horse for Hillary Clinton. It is entirely possible he is being duped into being a decoy. With no political experience, he would make an easy mark for a team of con artists as skilled as Hillary and Bill Clinton.
But he may very well have been in on the plot all along.
However, government professor Peter Augustine Lawler thinks it'll be Clark-Clinton in 2004.
Clark has to be regarded as the favorite for the nomination, and it would be a mistake at this point to regard him as an underdog in the general election. The main stumbling block to his success would be Hillary entering the race. As far as I can tell, her judgment is that the risk for her at this point is too high. She surely secretly hopes for a narrow Democratic defeat next year to clear the way for her in 2008. But political results can't be engineered that precisely, and don't be surprised if she doesn't adopt the amazingly low-risk strategy of making herself available as Clark's running mate. That would make her the presumptive nominee in either 2008 or 2012, depending on the general's skill and fortune.Why would the senator give up her all the influence that comes from having a safe seat from one of our largest states? The former First Lady could hardly be fulfilled as a mere senator; her real ambition is to be president. And whomever Clark picks as his vice-presidential candidate — if the ticket is elected — would have immediate advantages in the struggle to succeed him. Hillary can't count on that person not catching on. And no insider Democratic senator has won the party's presidential nomination under the present primary-nomination system. If Mrs. Clinton wants to be president, she'll want to be on the Clark ticket.
Personally, I think he has it backwards -- if Bush appears weak and the Dems can be kept in disarray until the convention, it'll be Clinton-Clark.
Posted by Alan at September 19, 2003 10:34 PM