Washington-Arkansas Rift Cited as Clark Campaign Manager Quits

Wesley Clark’s campaign manager quit Tuesday in a dispute over the direction of the Democrat’s presidential bid, exposing a rift between the former general’s Washington-savvy advisors and his 3-week-old campaign’s Arkansas team.

Donnie Fowler, 35, told associates he was leaving over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign officials.

Fowler also complained that the campaign’s message and methods are focused too much on Washington, not key states, said two associates who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Spokesmen for the campaign declined to comment.

From the start, there has been tension between the campaign’s political professionals and the draft-Clark supporters, many of whom consider Fowler their ally.

Fowler has complained that while the Internet-based draft-Clark supporters have been integrated into the campaign, their views are not taken seriously by senior advisors, many of them with deep Washington ties.

He has warned Clark’s team that the campaign is being driven from Washington, a charge leveled against Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 even though it was headquartered in Tennessee.

The campaign is planning to open a Washington office to develop policy and oversee relations with Congress, a move that raised concerns among some draft-Clark backers who want the campaign based in Arkansas.

Fowler, involved in his fifth presidential campaign, is one of several veterans of the Clinton-Gore political campaigns involved in Clark’s bid. They include communications advisor Mark Fabiani, policy advisor Ron Klain, campaign chairman Eli Segal and advisor Mickey Kantor.

Segal moved to Arkansas this week, giving him more hands-on control of the campaign. Campaign officials said the move may have been a source of some friction between Segal and Fowler.

Fowler, son of former Democratic Party Chairman Don Fowler, was quietly installed as manager of the campaign in its first days.

Fowler’s departure is the latest blow for a campaign that has gotten off to mixed reviews.

National polls put Clark near the top of the nine-person field and he raised more than $3 million in the first two weeks of his campaign, a sum that surpassed what several rivals raised in three months. However, he has been criticized for flip-flopping on whether he would have supported the Iraq war resolution, and his commitment to the Democratic Party has been questioned.

Clark voted for Presidents Reagan and Nixon, praised both Bush administrations and had not registered to vote as a Democrat in his home state of Arkansas before entering the race.

The high number of Clinton-Gore officials on his campaign, including Arkansan Bruce Lindsey, has caused Clark’s rivals to suggest that the former president is quietly pushing Clark’s campaign, a charge strongly disputed by the candidate and Clinton’s associates.