As new Democratic contender, Clark crams for debate

Campaign seen as work in progress

By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff, 9/20/2003

IOWA CITY -- Retired Army General Wesley K. Clark has committed to taking part in next week's Democratic debate, and he knows full well what to expect when he faces off against his nine rivals for the party's presidential nomination.

He knows he will need well-formed policy positions on a range of issues he has not begun to study. He knows the candidates will be training for his jugular. And he knows that, with only a week to go, there will not be time to learn everything.

"There are prime ministers I don't know, and there are economic facts I don't know, and I'll get stuff wrong," Clark said on a turboprop yesterday, en route to a one-day visit to Iowa. "Everybody does."

Clark and his staff plan to spend all weekend studying the issues and devising positions. In two days on the road, Clark has been grappling with the demand for sound bites and quick responses. He has seemed more comfortable with multipart answers and long-form discussions -- and he has given far more thought to foreign policy than to a range of domestic issues that many voters consider priorities.

This is the challenge of starting a presidential campaign from a standing start, entering a crowded field of candidates who have been prepping, primping, fund-raising, planning, and spinning policy statements for months. And this is what a campaign looks like when a candidate decides to run on Monday, calls in staff on Tuesday, announces on Wednesday, and jets to Florida on Thursday to meet voters and potential donors.

So far, the Clark campaign has no cellphones, no e-mail addresses, and no formal headquarters to speak of -- just dozens of staff and volunteers in his tiny consulting office, seizing space for laptops wherever they can find it, four to a desk and two to a dresser. There is no system for collecting money at campaign events; when supporters mobbed a deli in Fort Lauderdale to greet Clark on Thursday, many walked straight up to the general's surprised aides to hand them checks.

Clark is still in the process of assembling a staff and an organizational chart, as his aides determine which members of a disparate and sometimes warring "Draft Clark" movement will join the official campaign. He is getting used to the already grueling schedule, determined to get in a swim every morning and grab cat naps when he needs them.

He has met with notable enthusiasm; in Fort Lauderdale, a crowd of hundreds gathered at an event the campaign had set up with less than a day's notice -- and moved from early morning to late afternoon, after a debate about whether to fly to South Carolina while Hurricane Isabel approached the East Coast.

But while the Florida crowd seemed satisfied with handshakes and autographs, the press and pundits are looking for specifics, and Clark is trying to strike a balance between the two. Yesterday, he bounded onto his plane with a stack of editorials about Iraq that he wrote for the Times of London, which he printed to combat what he called "gotcha" stories and take control of his still-forming public image. "I'm the guy who understands this stuff," he said.

Clark staked out a few more positions. He voiced his commitment to "the survival and the preservation of the state of Israel." He said there was nothing wrong with short-term deficit spending during a recession, but criticized the first Bush tax cut for creating a long-term deficit.

But he also said presidential candidates should not have to master every policy detail. "People's skills and experiences vary," he said. "People who have been on the Hill for a long time know details of programs and details of legislation that I don't know. But in terms of what's important for policy formulation, when you're in office, those details are easy to come by."

Two things are most important in a president, he contended: "You've got to have the judgment to do it, and you've got to have the skill to communicate."

Clark appears eager to communicate with people, talking at length to reporters on plane trips, and stopping to speak to voters on the trail. Walking along the streets of Iowa City, followed by a couple of dozen reporters and supporters, he halted frequently to talk, grabbing people on sidewalks and, in one case, leaning into a car window.

He also made clear, however, that he does not like reducing policy matters to brief statements. "The simple truth is, when you're dealing with matters of foreign policy, it's all about nuance," he said.

At the Hamburg Inn in Iowa City, Clark stood on a chair and briefly let voters pepper him with questions about their pet issues. To some, his response was quick, if not fully formed. When Helen Dewey, an 80-year-old in a distant booth, shouted out "single-payer!" Clark made it clear he would not advocate that form of health care system.

But when Jen Cohn, 26, a recent medical school graduate, asked how much money he would dedicate to combating international outbreaks of AIDS, Clark would not say. "I'm not going to commit to anything until I have my economic facts and figures in order," he said.

Scott Klug, 36, a painting contractor, said he was intrigued by a man who looked, on paper, to have a good chance against President Bush. But he also wondered aloud if people were projecting their own wishful thinking on Clark "because he's a blank slate."

Jill Valde, 50, said she was willing to give Clark some time to study the issues.

"I think it's too early," she said. "I actually see that as a positive, rather than having a canned speech today with a lot of canned promises."

When Clark passed Valde on the way out of the diner, she told him she was worried about a shortage of nurses. He told her he did not know what to do about that yet.

"I don't know enough to give you a comprehensive answer at this point," Clark told her. "I know enough not to give you a comprehensive answer at this point."

"I liked his answer," she said. "We'll see what he does next."