Wesley Clark Gaining Popularity with the Left?

[Matty]

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If you remember the Draft Clark movement back in 02-03 was the reason Clark got into the race initially.

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Well, not really.

Liberal alert – what follows is sure to be called the “vast right wing conspiracy” or Extreme.

Clark entered the race for one reason – to derail Dean. The one thing the Clintons and DNC chair McCaullef did not want was a sitting president in ’08 so they ran Clark to destroy Dean.

Yeah,I know I’m a republican stooge, hate monger, blah blah blah. – whatever.
[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]I will concede it was likely the Clinton's ran Clark to kill Dean's momentum, but only because Dean had no chance of winning the general election.

To the OP, Clark has always had good online support, but if you look at polls of Democrats, he runs from 2 to 5% nationwide although name recognition probably plays a significant role in those.

[BonJoviJones]

Why is he unpopular with the dems? I don't really remember specifics, but I think I had a good impression of Clark during the last election (I'm pretty right-leaning). My one-off answer is, leftist, but still good on national security, seems like a winner. What's the deal? Does he have genital warts or something?

[DVaut1]

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Why is he unpopular with the dems? I don't really remember specifics, but I think I had a good impression of Clark during the last election (I'm pretty right-leaning). My one-off answer is, leftist, but still good on national security, seems like a winner. What's the deal? Does he have genital warts or something?

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I think this is what makes actual leftists scratch their heads; and this is nothing against you BonJoviJones. But when people on the left hear things like "Clark is a leftist" or "Hilary Clinton and the far left", they should realize the deck is stacked against them and they never had a chance.

[Matty]

We don't dislike him. He has about a 60-15 favorability rating among Dems and that 15% probably just don't like that he voted for Reagan and the responsible Bush. It's just a name recognition problem nationwide. Hillary could conceivably have $50 million in the bank by early '07, and there is a tendency to back the winning horse. Most of us liberals who closely follow politics really love Clark. I'm really putting my money on him being Hillary's VP.

There are many Democrats I would be happy with in 08, Warner, Clinton, etc. But only two could beat McCain (who really does have a chance at winning the Rep nomination) and they are Wesley Clark and John Edwards.

A friend of mine tapes FoxNews whenever Wes Clark on (he's a contributor for them now) and I gotta say, this man has potential out the roof. He could unite America like no one else. His failure to win the nomination in 04 was only due to his unbelievably late start and a general lack of preparedness.

Being from Virginia yourself, would you cross party lines for Warner?

[Matty]

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Can anybody shead some light on whether Clark is quietly getting off to a good start with the Democratic base?

[/ QUOTE ]Clark is for all political intents and purposes a Clinton and two Clintons are not going to really compete with each other and split their demographic within the Democratic Party. Like I said earlier, look for Clark to play very nice to Hillary if he runs for the nomination to the point of outright defending her against others, not really try too hard himself, and then accept the VP role from Hillary.

[lehighguy]

John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal. And you can't beat his backround story.

Dems should ahve picked him in '04. He was the only candidate of the nince of them I liked at all.

[ptmusic]

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John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal. And you can't beat his backround story.

Dems should ahve picked him in '04. He was the only candidate of the nince of them I liked at all.

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I voted for him in the primary. I think he's done though (he probably doesn't think so).

-ptmusic

[DVaut1]

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John Edwards is a tremendous campaigner. He has huge personal energy and appeal.

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Edwards reputation during the 2004 campaign was that he was bad on the stump and wasn't much more than a good looking guy with a nice hairdo (IOW, he had no cache). Take it or leave it, but certainly after the primaries, 'great campaigner' and 'John Edwards' were not frequently heard together in the same sentence.

IMO, he's so photogenic that people don't take him as seriously as they might otherwise; and it unnecessarily contributes to the criticism that he's "too young" to be President, despite the fact President Bush was only two years older than Edwards when he became President.

[AngryCola]

Wesley Clark has a much better chance of being elected president than does Hillary Clinton.

[lehighguy]

I don't know. Like I said he was the only Democrat I could really stand when he opened his mouth. Even if I disagreed with him I got the feeling he cared alot and was trying to do his best.