Clark on rise in New Hampshire

NASHUA -- Bob Bettilyon sat in the front row of a crowded college meeting room, waiting to hear retired Army general Wesley K. Clark, and looking for a sign, a buzz, a spark.

Bettilyon, 54, has one goal for this primary season: find someone who can beat President Bush in 2004. Most Democrats, he figures, have similar policy views. But compared with former Vermont governor Howard Dean, he said, Clark seemed to be missing something. "He just hasn't come on as strong as I would like to see," he said. But an hour and a half later -- after Clark had mocked Bush, hugged the American flag, and delivered a feverish rant against the military-industrial complex -- Bettilyon, a financial controller from Nashua, was closer to being convinced. "Very impressive," he said. "I may vote for him in the primary."

If Clark ends up going to the White House, these past two weeks might mark the start of the turnaround. His response to the Republican Party's latest ads -- "I'm not attacking the president because he's attacking terrorists; I'm attacking him because he isn't attacking terrorists" -- popped up on television screens throughout the country. His latest stump speeches have drawn a positive response from crowds. And polls in New Hampshire this week registered a small but definite uptick.

"Someone's going to end up being the opposition to Dean," said pollster Dick Bennett, president of the Manchester-based American Research Group. "I'm tending to think that it may be Clark."

In part, specialists say, the good news is a function of the time Clark has spent on the ground in the Granite State and the television ads that started running in the state last month. And in part, some say, they detect a shift in Clark's message as he strays from what had been a liability: his even-keeled, steady demeanor.

Activist Democrats are gearing for a fight, Bennett said, and Dean, the front-runner, fits that image. Clark's case, by contrast, has seemed largely based on his military career and his foreign policy credentials, Bennett said. "He's making this logical case for himself, and people say, `Come on, can you beat the guy?' " he said.

Indeed, as Clark gave cautious performances in early televised debates and tripped over statements about the war in Iraq, some voters were inclined to dismiss him. David Dolosite, 31, a Boston lawyer who gave up on Senator John F. Kerry last month, shopped for an alternative and wound up with Dean.

"I was kind of enthused when he joined the race," Dolosite said of Clark. "But he was kind of mayonnaise on white bread. . . . He didn't have that charismatic spark. It just seemed like he was led there less by conviction and more by his resume."

But sometime in late November, observers noticed the rumblings of a change, a shift in demeanor that has continued at events such as the "Conversation with Clark" that Bettilyon saw at Nashua's Daniel Webster College. Clark brought up, then disputed, some of the mistakes that have dogged his campaign since its first days, such as his sometime support for Republicans ("Jackie Kennedy says you have to have been a Republican to understand how nice it is to be a Democrat") and his early muddled message on whether he would have voted for a resolution authorizing Bush to wage war in Iraq.

He expressed hints of sarcasm: "Excuse me, but I think if you change administrations, you might be able to work better with our European allies." And he came up with a few more potential sound bites: "Instead of using the bully pulpit as a foundation for leadership in America, this administration is all bully and no pulpit."

Clark still tends to give a disciplined performance: He stands firmly in place, rocking back and forth on his toes and heels, and rarely blinks. But many have also noticed his enthusiasm on the trail; at visits to colleges and restaurants, he tends to stay late to answer every question possible.

Clark still has significant hurdles if he hopes -- like most other Democrats at this point -- to establish himself as the most credible alternative to Dean. He is skipping the Iowa caucuses, and the momentum a good showing there can bring, instead focusing energy on New Hampshire and the states with primaries on Feb. 3.