Clark Falls Into Party Line at Meeting

In his debut as a White House contender before the Democratic Party’s national establishment, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark sought Friday to dispel doubts about his partisan loyalty, reciting a litany of beliefs that he said placed him in the footsteps of every Democratic president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.

Clark was one of four front-line candidates for the party’s 2004 presidential nomination with something to prove Friday as they addressed the Democratic National Committee. For Howard Dean, the burden of proof was that a former Vermont governor has what it takes to beat President Bush. For Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, it was that a defeated vice presidential nominee from 2000 is still relevant. And for Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, it was that he can handle the competition from Clark, who is also a former military man.

Today, in a second day of candidate appearances at the committee’s fall meeting, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri will vie for attention while Sen. Bob Graham of Florida will face escalating questions about whether his presidential campaign is drawing to a close.

On Friday afternoon, a Graham spokesman gave a less-than-definitive response to reports that the Floridian was about to quit. “As far as I know, he is not considering getting out of the race,” said Mo Elleithee. “He is a candidate for president of the United States, and that has not changed.”

In the meantime, Clark, the retired four-star general seeking to become the second president from Arkansas, remained the object of the most curiosity.

Standing before more than 400 party officials, Clark said, “I want to make one thing clear: I’m pro-choice, I’m pro-affirmative action, I’m pro-environment, pro-education, pro-health care and pro-labor. And if that ain’t a Democrat, then I must be at the wrong meeting.

“We’re the party of Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Carter, Kennedy and Clinton. And that’s a legacy I am proud to be a part of,” he said. Clark added that he voted for Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

Clark, who joined the race for the party’s nomination little more than two weeks ago, faced an audience that seemed initially wary of a candidate who has acknowledged supporting past Republican presidents, such as Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon; praised top members of the Bush administration at a GOP fund-raiser in May 2001; and declared himself a Democrat only a month ago.

Some national committee members said afterward that Clark appeared to put the matter behind him.

“People feel that he is one of us,” said Melvin “Butch” Hollowell, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, who is uncommitted in the race and whose state will be the scene of an important party caucus Feb. 7. “I think he was fabulous. He made me feel patriotic and proud and ready to take on the world.”

Dennis Langley, vice chairman of the South Dakota Democratic Party, said Clark’s views placed him squarely within the party’s mainstream. “He hit every major issue more than once and double- or triple-stitched it,” said Langley, who is backing Gephardt in the race.

Langley voiced an idea on the minds of many at the meeting -- that Clark could be a potent vice presidential candidate. “He could pair with any of three or four candidates and be great,” he said, calling a Gephardt-Clark ticket his “dream team.”

But Clark did not convince everyone. One of his rivals, Kerry, took a few jabs at the newcomer without mentioning him by name.

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, is vying with Clark, who led NATO to victory in the 1999 Kosovo war, for the mantle of national security expert among the 10 contenders.

Kerry told the audience that his devotion to the Democratic Party is “not a commitment I made in the last few weeks. This has been a cause with me for a lifetime.”

Kerry added that he was “proud” to have stood against presidents Nixon and Reagan and relished having fought the Bush tax cuts in 2001, in a clear allusion to Clark’s appearance at an Arkansas Republican event in May 2001. “I thought [Bush administration policies] were wrong then. I knew what ‘compassionate conservative’ meant then,” he said.

Dean did not attack any of his rivals -- saving his fire for Bush. His stature on the campaign trail has risen since he last addressed the committee in February, challenging the party to return to its roots and criticizing Bush sharply for his policy on Iraq. On Tuesday, Dean closed out a third quarter of fund-raising with nearly $15 million collected, about triple what his closest competitors had gathered in the last three months.

“We are taking our democracy and our country back, piece by piece, from the Rush Limbaughs and the Jerry Falwells and the Dick Cheneys and the Donald Rumsfelds of the world,” Dean said, lumping the vice president and the Defense secretary with the controversial talk radio host, Limbaugh, and the Christian conservative leader, Falwell.

Dean also urged party officials to confront Republicans head-on with a campaign that gives full voice to the disaffected Democratic faithful. “We have been silent too long,” he said. “We are not out of power in the White House and the Senate and the Congress because George Bush ran a great campaign. We are out of power ... because we didn’t stand up for what we believe in.”

Lieberman, who with Gore lost to Bush and Cheney in 2000, rallied the party leaders by reminding them of their most bitter hours in the Florida recount. “Let us pledge never again to allow an election to be decided by the Supreme Court instead of the voters of the United States,” he said.

He charged that the Bush White House had failed to act with integrity, saying that he was well-positioned to hammer the Republicans on that point in the general campaign. “Integrity is on the ballot next fall, and I know I can win that battle for America,” said Lieberman.

Dean, Kerry and Lieberman got rousing receptions from their supporters and respectful hearings from the undecided.