Divided over possible unity

WASHINGTON -- After months of speculation that Howard Dean and Wesley K. Clark would someday unite to form a powerful Democratic bid for the White House, the two candidates are now locked in a bitter dispute over that very issue, increasingly directing attacks at one another and seemingly rejecting any chance they might work together to defeat President Bush.

Clark, whose campaign has developed a solid fund-raising machine, is one of the few candidates other than Dean to continually grab headlines -- last week by testifying against Serbian ruler Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague. Clark is also a Southerner, which could undercut Dean's bid in key Southern states. Unlike Dean, Clark has had a long career in international affairs. And Clark has also shown visible -- if incremental -- improvement in New Hampshire, home of the Jan. 27 primary.

"We're the candidate who is gaining while the rest seem to be sinking," Clark aide Laura Bergthold said. "I think if they look across the landscape and see any threat, it's us."

To be sure, Representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri has his own successes to tout, running in either first or second place in Iowa, and the other candidates insist they will gain momentum as the primaries approach. Most of Dean's rivals have grown more optimistic in light of recent events, especially the capture of Saddam Hussein, which has boosted public opinion of the war in Iraq and thus validated the candidates who voted for it.

Clark has portrayed himself as an anti-war candidate, one reason that he and Dean have been destined to clash in pursuit of anti-war voters, which Dean has claimed as his own for more than a year.

Whatever the reason, there is no mistaking that Dean and Clark have locked horns after months of civility.

The four-star general has sharpened his focus on national security and begun to pursue Dean by name, saying more directly that the former Vermont governor would not be qualified to be president and attacking a wider range of his policies.

Dean, in turn, has targeted Clark -- especially over a claim Clark made last weekend that Dean asked him to be his running mate in a meeting earlier this year. While Dean admits he will need a vice presidential candidate who is strong enough on defense to "plug that hole" in his own resume, he fiercely denied ever inviting Clark to fill the slot, touching off a very public tussle between the campaigns over which one was telling the truth.

"I'm not going to characterize what we discussed and what we didn't, but I can tell you flat out I did not ask him to be my running mate," Dean said of the allegation. "I think Wes Clark would be a fine running mate, but I have not asked him to be my running mate. I think that would be very presumptuous of me to do so, since I have not . . . had one vote yet in the Democratic primary."

Yet Clark insisted the subject was raised, and by none other than Dean.

"The vice presidency was discussed," Clark said while traveling in South Carolina. "I didn't bring it up, but he did. But I told him, I only had one decision, and that was whether to run to be the president of the United States or not.

"And I wasn't thinking about anything else, wasn't interested in talking about anything else."

Clark did offer a potential explanation for the disagreement: that while the topic of the vice presidency was "discussed," Dean never formally offered Clark the job. "It depends on how you define offer," Clark said yesterday on CNN. "It was dangled out there and discussed. I mean it was offered as much as it could have been offered, I think."

Both campaigns provided witnesses to defend each candidate's view. According to a Clark spokesman, Bergthold, who has worked with both Dean and Clark, had a conversation with Dean last summer in which he mentioned having Clark on a potential ticket. Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi, meanwhile, has denied his boss ever said any such thing.

As the spat continued, it appeared less likely Clark would agree to run with Dean if the former governor became the nominee. Asked yesterday whether it would suffice for a candidate such as Dean to recruit a running mate with strong national security credentials, Clark replied, "No."

"Having other people tell you what to do is no substitute for having been there in the arena yourself," he said. "You need a candidate who's got foreign policy expertise."

Asked whether he would consider running in the second-tier slot in any event, Clark said, "What I've said is that the decision for the American people in a Democratic primary and the reason I'm running is to be commander in chief. The president of the United States. That's the position in which I think I'm the best-qualified person of the field of candidates to serve, and that's why I'm running."

Glen Johnson of the Globe staff contributed to this report.