Clark PPL, are you happy with his campaign? I'm becoming frustrated

[hope42mro]

I feel like his staff aren't focusing enough on why he is a perfect opponent to Bush (Southern, War Veteran/casualty, Silver spoon vs. Silver Star etc.), like maybe they could play up his "self-made" background, and the Albanian-Americans who are constantly thanking him.
I don't know. I'm not the experienced campaign worker/ pollster/ yah-da- yah-da, but as an overcommercialized American I think I recognize what sells: human stories, right?

How could such a strong Draft movement now be lagging? He is still just as fabulous and qualified as before and right after he announced.
Where is the hold-up?:shrug:

Just wondering if I am alone in my sentiments or if you guys feel them too.

[Jerseycoa]

1. I'm satisfied

He's not lagging. This is a four month long campaign with a candidate who has not been a politician all his life. We're right where we should be about now. :)

[krkaufman]

3. Agreed. Thanks for the sanity, Jerseycoa...! n/t

[Seldona]

2. Frustrated?

Not in particular. At least with his campaign.

It is the lack of media coverage that has left me pulling out my hair.

Maybe that is his campaigns fault. I do not know.

I seem to have noticed a bit more coverage the last day or two, and am hoping this trend continues.

Maybe I am wrong, but I fell a slight upsurge in interest lately.

At least I hope.

[mikehiggins]

4. Golly, I don't know. Hey, maybe I'll tune in CNN and they'll be able

to give me a hint or two.

Seriously, if you are new to electoral politics this might seem strange to you, but the fact is that Clark is in a bind.

On the one hand, he is doing fantastically well compared to where he started.

On the other hand, he's still up against some really well known and well established politicians with long standing ties within the hierarchy and infrastructure of the party.

That's the fact, Jack.

The campaign was a long shot from the outset, and it is still a long shot. On the other hand its a lot further along than anyone really expected when it started and, despite the pollsters and pundits, there still exists a chance for us to win.

We just have to keep slogging along. Don't let the empty suits on tv like Matthews and _ucker Carlson get you down. Clark is right now among the top four contenders. By next week he may be one of the top three. After that, who knows?

Don't be disheartened. The best is yet to come.

[ibegurpard]

5. Seems to me Clark is positioned rather well

eom

[Kathleen04]

6. I'm satisfied...

but I do think that there's always room for improvement or a little bit of a shakeup. I think we are going to need an added something to our strategy in order to put us over the top..I'm not sure what that is yet and I'm sure the campaign is also working hard to find it. I'm confident in them though..go team! :)

[girl gone mad]

7. He's doing pretty well.

My only advice would be for his campaign to get the word out a bit more about his background as an economics professor. There's no reason Edwards should be beating him on the economy in exit polling, IMO.

[Kathleen04]

8. I agree...and some issue ads dealing w/ his domestic policy plans

would be a good boost in the right direction.

[ShaneGR]

9. Read this

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20040204-1827-clark.html

I thought Clark, when he entered, was going to make a great candidate. But he had some missteps in terms of mixing up his statements or getting things wrong. And the GOP connections didn't help him either.

I respect and admire General Clark. But he just wasn't ready for primetime. Even when he's attacking, he includes one too many things... that turn out not to be true. That comes with not being a career politician, and it's understandable, but that doesn't mean I'd trust him to go up against Bush.

I'd love to see him as Secretary of State or Defense Secretary (Prefer Defense Secretary, what a difference between Herr Rumsfeld and Clark). I still have this dream in the back of my head of Bill Clinton as Secretary of State.

[hope42mro]

15. I'm not concerned with Clark's credentials, it's his campaign staff

You say he's had missteps? Like fumbling words now and then? God, I hope they never let someone like that be president! Oh, wait...

Clark goes on tangents sometimes because he's speaking from his heart, off the top of his head. Lots of intelligent people go on tangents, that's from your brain working so fast, no biggie.

Saying someone isn't "ready for primetime", I honestly don't know what that means. That he's not glazed over, dumbed down for the average Joe? But even that wouldn't be good.

Yeah, point is Clark is fantastic, no doubt in my mind. I just hope his paid staff is as passionate as the volunteers.

[patricia92243]

10. At the beginning of his run, the buzz was he was a Clinton selection. Now

the choice of Clinton seems to be Kerry (ugh) and Clark has been left high and dry.

[Kathleen04]

16. I don't know--I think the Clinton

support/non-support is highly fictionalized. Unless the Clinton's are working some really covert magic behind the scenes, it doesn't seem to me like they're really throwing their support behind anyone.

At least..I don't see the signs of their support..

[LiberalBushFan]

You're right, he's actually focusing too much on the issues,

believe it or not. People want a nice image of the person more than his stances on issues, unfortunately. He is not doing badly, but I think he could do better if he changed his approach to focus on his past accomplishments and origins. He shouldn't go as far as to say South and Southern every other words like Edwards, but hey, it's working well enough for Edwards.

[arewethereyet]

20. and Edwards focuses on the issues too

perhaps a matter of delivery and sincerity ?

[hope42mro]

23. Sincerity? Edwards is a trial lawyer. Acting sincere is his job nt

[Tatiana]

11. There are too many candidates.

Clark splits the veteran vote with Kerry.

Clark splits the "Southern" vote with Edwards.

Clark splits the "outsider/grassroots" vote with Dean.

On the bright side of things, it's obvious Clark is a candidate that covers all the bases, given his support in areas as varied as Oklahoma (1st), New Hampshire (3rd), and Arizona/New Mexico/North Dakota (2nd). People like what they are hearing of him. We just need to get better coverage.

[Ivote]

13. Not frustrated at all

February 2, 2004 For Immediate Release: Fifty-five US Ambassadors and Diplomats Endorse Clark visit www.clark04.com/press/release/221/ for text

[ShaneGR]

14. Too bad they're all out of the country

That's an odd endorsement, because they can't campaign for him if they're living somewhere else.

An impressive endorsement, but fairly worthless.

[bain_sidhe]

26. Sorry... off topic, but that pic of Edwards ...

looks just like Fox Mulder. And, besides, it's kinda scary!

:hi:

[davidinalameda]

18. but I'm afraid it might be too late

the perception is that this is now between Edwards and Kerry

and we all know how hard it is to change perceptions once people get them set in their minds

[Tatiana]

22. That perception could change after Feb. 10th.

If Clark wins Tennessee and has a strong showing in VA.

[BootinUp]

27. Do you think the pundits

will be able to avoid showing Clark doing well in TN polls, and discussing the Clark v Edwards angle? I mean the only way they can ignore Clark is to not talk about TN and VA. I just don't think that is possible.

I suppose the plan is to boost Edwards in WA and MI, but they don't have much time left to accomplish that.

[Kathleen04]

19. On Clark splitting the vote with others...

You're right about Clark splitting the veteran vote, the Southern vote, and the outsider/grassroots vote, but on a positive spin I think that Clark himself has the best elements of all the other candidates combined. :)

Maybe that should be part of our message somehow...

[Tatiana]

24. That IS the message.

Why have one dish, when you can have the whole buffet??? Clark exemplifies the best characteristics of all the front-running candidates, as well as having great cross-over appeal.

And yes, we need to be articulating that.

[Kathleen04]

25. Absolutely n/t

[madmax]

12. He's doing well and I still have complete

confidence and faith in him. I will continue to donate and to support him in every way possible.

Before I heard of Clark, Kerry/Edward Pres. & VP were all I could think of. That seems so long ago.

I'm with Clark all the way. And I know I won't regret it.

[Jack_Dawson]

17. I was ambivalent - then I looked at his Fundraising $$$ from ONE day!

Now I'm in a good mood again.

[NV1962]

21. There's no lag... Except for media attention for the Clark campaign

As to delivering a rock-solid and substantial speech that media seem to revel in ignoring, take a look at today's one, by the General in Jackson, TN:

http://clark04.com/speeches/040/

But if you want to help to change the silly crackwhoresrace reporting, here's a good start, so that we can give them another few hard hits to chew on in TN and VA, and perhaps another surprise:

https://secure.clark04.com/

Screw media, they don't report news anymore, they've stooped to deciding and making what they feel is good enough as "news" while, for example, busily licking Bush when he gears up with phony stories for a phony war (not that they didn't get any clues to the contrary from their real colleagues in Europe.)

Want to make news, big news, important good news for America? Strike back, by canvassing, campaigning, writing and calling - telling the real story on the General:

http://clark04.com/primary/invasion/

We'll take this country back - one vote at a time. Never underestimate a determined soldier when he's fighting for his country!

[Julien Sorel]

28. He's in a difficult position.

For his original campaign strategy to work, he would have needed to use the South as a base. He has true crossover appeal, and with the South as a base, he would have been able to wipe the floor with the other candidates as the election wore on. Unfortunately, Edwards did well in Iowa, which kept him in the race. So now, he has to knock Edwards out, then deal with Kerry, who is essentially running unopposed in the rest of the country, Dean's spider trap in Wisconsin notwithstanding.

The deal with campaigns is that when a candidate is doing well, everyone assumes they are running a great campaign, and everything is fantastic; when they run into trouble, everyone assumes their campaign is a disaster, blah blah blah. Two months ago, everyone was laughing at Kerry and his lackluster campaign, calling him wooden, boring, unenergetic, and so on, while Dean was running this amazing campaign, the money and endorsements were pouring in, he was going to revolutionize campaigning, yadda yadda yadda.

The truth is, there is a ton of luck involved with even the best campaigns. Sure, the skillset and appeal of the candidate is huge, sure, a good campaign manager has a big impact, but the reality is, each candidate has a set of strengths and a unique appeal the value of which wax and wane with events outside the candidate's control. The capture of Saddam and the bounce of the economy killed Dean as much as his own arrogance and bluster did; that capture also probably hurt Clark to a certain extent. These same events made Kerry, an establishment figure, more appealing because he was safer -- less likely to upset the status quo, which mainstream folks hope is pretty decent right now. So the outsider message has lost a lot of its appeal. There isn't a thing the candidates can do about that besides shift their message as much as they can to adjust to the new reality, and keep pushing on.

Overall, Clark has done pretty well for himself as someone who came into the race who terrified both the Republicans and the extreme left, and took a tremendous amount of flak from both sides as a result, and who was new to politics. As a Draft Clarker, I was really disappointed that he hadn't put together at least the skeleton of an organization before he decided to run; I think that, and circumstances he couldn't control, rather than any problem with his campaign since, are the big problems he has had to face.

Assuming he doesn't pull this out, and assuming the Dems lose in 04, I would like to see him run again in 08, but this time with the benefit of a slower-developing campaign, where he gets to hone his message over time. If you saw him in his earlier days, and saw him now, you know how much he's grown as a candidate in the past 4 months -- yes, he's only been a candidate for 4 months -- and I want to see him in an environment where he isn't essentially reacting and devoting himself to damage control all the time. Frankly, he reminds me a ton of Jimmy Carter, and Carter ran a thoughtful campaign in 1975-76, where he travelled the country and listened to people, then fashioned his message and went at it. That would be perfect for Clark, who is thoughtful and analytical, but lacks the typical politician's glib slipperyness. Put him in a position where he has defined himself and his message before the campaign really starts, and I think he would be far more formidable than he's shown --and again, he really hasn't done that badly this time around.