Run, Wes, Run. Copy of e-mail sent to General Clark today. Please reinforce, Ken

[xkenx]

Dear General Clark,
I have been a supporter from even before you announced in September, 2003. I understand that it may be presumptuous of me to be taking liberties with your personal life by what I am about to say. I do so in the firm belief that only you can restore the honor of America by becoming its' President. Most of your supporters would figuratively "charge through walls" if it would help you become President; that's how committed we are. NO ONE ELSE commands that kind of dedication. There is a reason; most of us have some considerable political maturity and have come to our conclusion carefully. I go back to Bobby Kennedy. After RFK, I voted but did little else; I just wasn't inspired, and I was cynical and jaded about the political process. But, sir, you have inspired me like no public figure since Bobby Kennedy. I always thought my father was an inspirational man, not because of monetary wealth or fame, but because he led a life of complete integrity and worked to raise his children to respect others and to always do the right thing. But my father had only the skill set and drive to do the best he could in his small world, which was plenty good. You, however, are blessed with the background and proven skills/accomplishments to lead nations. Don't you owe it to yourself and the nation which so desperately needs you to attempt to become president? You, yourself, gave an interview to the New York Times Magazine just this month which suggested that everyone should at least attempt to reach for lofty goals, even if they wound up second.

A Democrat winning the White House in 2008 is far from a sure thing, even in the current climate. The current poll leader, Sen. Clinton is leading, IMO, on name recognition among the least educated of the public, those least likely to stay loyal or even cast ballots. She has amassed so many negatives (rightly or wrongly) that she is a walking $$$$$$ of advertising for Republicans to get out their vote. I can see NO scenario where she can flip red states. The republican nominee will distance himself from Bush, promise to return to Ronald Reagan's America, be smart-tough on terrorism in the Republicans tradition, restore true conservative values, blah blah. Republican voters will return to the fold; that's exactly what they want to hear. To win we will have to flip red states with a candidate who can appeal to Independents and some Republicans. How would you feel if you did not run, and you had to watch one of the current assortment of modern Republicans take the (meaningless to Republicans) oath of office on January 20, 2009? There would be a continuation of the Bushco world view, a continued denial of science, a continued denial of equal rights, a continued repression of ordinary Americans, a continued assault on The Constitution of the United States of America----in other words a continuation of all the policies and practices which caused you to become a Democrat after your military service. At a WesPac fundraiser in Culver City in Feb. '06, you gave an eloquent and impassioned defense of the Constitution, our laws, our way of life. I hope you're not forgetting what drew you to wanting to run in the first place.

I know that you have spoken of "preconditions" to running again. Are you perhaps overthinking the obstacles? There are so many people just waiting for you to give the word, that the support and the resources will materialize. Democrats are longing for someone to step up who doesn't have the baggage and/or inexperience of the current announced candidates. Democrats are longing for someone who shares our values AND can take it to the Republicans on national security turf, someone who can make national security "Home field advantage" for the Democrat.

I am reminded of the classic movie, "Field of Dreams." The hero, Ray Kinsella, is an Iowa farmer who hears a voice telling him, "If you build it, he will come." On faith alone, and at considerable financial risk, he built a baseball field in his corn field, and long dead baseball stars (and his father) materialized out of the corn to play in the field. Ray righted his financial ship by charging admission to sightseers after James Earl Jones' character said "Ray, they will come. They will most definitely come, Ray, for it is money they have and peace they lack."

General Clark, it is time and committment and money they have and leadership they lack. Sir, they will most definitely come.
Duty, honor, country.
Ken

[Captain Hilts]

1. Please, Wes, get in the game!!!! nt

[MasonJar]

2. I really fear that General Clark has once again waited too long. Gore could come in now,

but I am not sure about Wesley Clark. I am just hoping that he is Sec of State. What a great job he would do to redeem our credibility.

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. I look at it this way, and looking at it this way it is not too late.

I am recyling a post here that I used elsewhere on DU, so perhaps you already read it.

First, Clark has no chance of winning if Gore decides to enter the race. It is too late for Clark to establish himself in the race both against the current field AND against Gore. So any scenario for Clark entering and becoming competitive in my mind assumes that Gore decides not to run, which all have to conceed is a strong possibility at least.

There would not still at this date be such a strong Draft Gore movement, given Gore's clear ambivelence at the very least at moving back into partisan politics, if more people felt that we had an incredible field of candidates already in the race. I don't think that we do. I think Edwards has moved hard to the left, which is to my liking but seemingly is starting to drain support away from him from less progressive Democrats based on his slow slide down in many polls (outside of Iowa where Edwards is making his real stand). I think Obama will never be able to adaquately shake concerns that he is still too inexperienced to elevate to President of the United States.

To me the fact that Hillary Clinton overall retains a solid lead in this race so far, polling strongly relative to Obama and Edwards, speaks to the weakness of our field. Most Democrats are concerned about the extent to which Hillary is unpopular witht the larger public, which causes concern over the notion of her being our nominee. Clinton has alienated much of the liberal base that usually drives primary results, and still she is much more than holding her own because she is the only Democrat to many who seems plausible as Commander in Chief.

Wes Clark in the anti dote to perceived unseasoned leaders seeking to become President. Al Gore would be also. Yes Al Gore would mobilize a burst of support instantly, but Wes Clark would be in 4th place shortly after entering the field, and he would build from there, especially if it became clear that Al Gore is not going to run. And at some point this fall either Gore will say yes or people will realize that he's not going to. By Novemeber that would clear the field for Clark to move up higher if Al Gore is out. That leaves plenty of time.

Clark has more immediate support that he can draw upon than anyone in the race other than Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. He rapidly will rise above the rest of the field, which would quickly establish Clark as the designated dark horse.

Back in December when most activists thought Clark would run, he was in a statistical tie for popularity in polls here at Kos, with Edwards and Obama (they had 26%, Clark had 24%, dispite the fact that Clark was getting a tenth of the media attention then that Edwards and Obama got.

Here is what I predict will happen. There are many people still holding out for Gore, who are not content with the current field. If it becomes clear enough that Gore isn't running, a lot of that support will find itself to Clark and that is when he will break into the first tier. That could be aided by a sense of resignation from some supporters of a current front tier candidate if that candidate is seen as underperforming. If Clark can stand up to Hillary on a debate stage and out expert her on issues, which I think he can, Clark will increasingly be looked at as the only candidate with a real chance of stopping Hillar from winning. She is doing very well against the current field.

Late breaking momentum is usually what has won these races in the past. Most candidates who have been the front runners at this stage in the race have gone on to lose, often in dramatic fashion.

As to where Clark can find a pool of talent and resourses to build a campaign from at this somewhat late stage, I see that happening in stages also. By staying out untill now Clark has not tapped a single big donor yet, not one, while the declared candidates by now have all hit up many contributers for the legal max over the last six months. So Clark can start out by disproportionally raking in those two thousand dollor checks that other candidates have already exhausted. He has some key staff to build on now, and others may leave struggling second tier campaigns when Clark leap frogs those candidates. But the mother load may well be the support that has been held back from the current field by people who have been waiting for Al Gore.

Here is my metaphor. There is lovely park land in West Marin County overlooking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. It's called the Marin Headlands, and it could have been extremely prime real estate but it never got developed. That's because until relatively recently it was owned and used by the military, originally to help defend the San Francisco Bay, and later as a Nike Base. The point is that the military kept that land out of commercial play during a period when public demand for park lands was less of a powerful social force than it is now, not strong enough on its own to fend off the hunger of developers so as to keep that land open in its natural state. But military use trumped commercial, and so that land lay undeveloped. When the military finally withdrew, that resourse was still there for the public to lay claim to.

Al Gore in my metaphor staked out an early claim on some prime political turf, key political infra structure, which has prevented other active candidates from laying claim on it themselves. He can of course use it himself for a Presidential run if he so desires, but up until now the other candidates have had to cede his control of those particular resourses and develop their campaigns without them. That "turf" in a sense still sits idle with neither Gore building on it nor anyone else having real access to it while he controls it. That can't last indefinately. Either Gore will exercise his option on that "land" or his lease on it will expire and it will go back onto the market before the primaries.

For Clark to be able to tap into that prime turf in time for him to make effective use of it, Gore has to let his lease there expire soon.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. Clark waa remarkably candid on the Charlie Rose show

not remarkably candid for him, because I have come to expect that of Wes Clark in general, but very candid by political standards. Al Gore, who can draw on conncections from a lifetime in Democratic politics buttressed by his fully deserved new fame as the leading voice warning America and the world about the threat of global warming, knows he has the resourses availble to run if he wants to. The real question with Gore is whether he wants to or not.

The situation is reversed with Wes Clark. Like I said, he was quite candid. He would love to run again if he can pull together the resourses he thinks it will take him not only to run, but to run and win. He hasn't worked it out yet. He has a plan but all the ingredients have not come together sufficiently for him to launch that plan. Essentially that is what Wes Clark told Charlie Rose, though folks should watch the whole 30 minute interview, or at least read the transcript. You can do both here. The part about running again is at the very begining:

http://securingamerica.com/node/2579

But whatever Clark needs to be able to run is not so out of reach to him that he has ruled out being able to make it work, he was clear about that also. If he felt certain it can not work he would say that also. That is part of the candor I admire about him. So Wes Clark is still actively thinking it through. Therefor the timing of your personal appeal makes sense to me. Nice letter xkenx, it is clearly heartfelt.

[xkenx]

8. Thanks, Tom. I figure the next 2-4 weeks are critical for Wes.

[Dinger]

5. K & R, And I Think He Will Run

Just my gut feeling, nothing more, nothing less.
:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[Dinger]

6. I'll Call Wes & Tell Him I Have The Preconditions And They Are Met, And

Let's go to work!
:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[xkenx]

7. Right, Ding. Clark's army is ready to march.

[DaveSaber]

9. Clark cites money factor; directs attention to ActBlue

I get it - Clark's not running. Why he hasn't come out and said so is a mystery to me, and to the few people still paying any attention to Clark's continuing refusal to rule out a 2008 run definitively.

Nevertheless, Clark did recently direct attetion to ActBlue, and he did recently tell Charlie Rose on 7/26/2007 that lack of financial support is a key factor in his hesitation to get in the race. So, before he definitively backs out, I'm going to do what little I can to drum up some campaign-spendable support via ActBlue, so I can rest easy that my donation will not be wasted if Clark doesn't run, but instead will be used advance the same goals Clark himself has been working to advance.

Candidate or not, I appreciate the way Clark has successfully backed Howard Dean's 50 state strategy (helping elect the likes of Jim Webb and Jon Tester, thus tilting the Senate to the dems), not to mention his acumen with respect to national security, foreign affairs, economics, and social justice, as well as his inclination and ability to engage the opposition (whether Fox news junkies or renegade Iranians). The man deserves our respect, our thanks, and most importantly our emulation.

That's why, on the off chance that an ACTUAL SHOW of bankable netroots support might make a difference to his final decision on 2008, I've decided that now is an appropriate time to start donating to the Draft Clark fund on ActBlue, and asking others to join me. In all likelihood, these funds will end up in the hands of the DNC and applied by Howard Dean to his 50 state strategy, which suits me just fine (BushCo and its allies in Congress have created a unique historic opening for this strategy as a result of their rampant corruption, incompetence, far right-wing extremism, and damage to national security).

Please donate here, and do so with your eyes open. This is a salute to the general, a thanks for his party-building approach to politics, and a way of joining Dean, Clark and others in their efforts. If enough people get on board, it might nudge Clark toward an Exploratory Committee. If not, it's just as well - we will have done the party some good, strengthened ActBlue as a channel of bottom-up activism (as Clark recently requested his supporters to do), and committed a satisfying act of political self expression.

Why I still support the idea of a Clark Exploratory Committee

1. It's the only way to really tell whether there's a lot of latent support out there or not (talk is cheap!)
   
   
2. He would greatly enrich the debate on many fronts (in case anyone here still doesn't know, he's a former Rhodes Scholar and teacher of college-level economics as well as former Supreme Allied Commander of Nato forces during the counter-genocide Kosovo war)
   
   
3. He would be a strong contender in the general election with the potential of quite long, map-changing coattails (Clark is NOT Kerry!)
   
   
4. Nobody seems to be closing the gap on Hillary - if Clark can show he's learned how to campaign since 2004, it's possible there will be enough positive chatter to put him back on the map
   
   
5. There's no shame in backing out if an Exploratory Committee goes nowhere - he will still have ample opportunities to contribute in other ways (for example, stumping for Fighting Dems and other Red State democratic challengers in 2008).
   
   
   
   

It's a long shot that my efforts and the efforts of those who join me will make a significant impact, but I will have done all I could (which was not true a month ago), and this being the Internet, you never know. Before I put in a dime, the Draft Clark fund had stagnated at about $4,600. I started out with a modest $100 contribution, and chipped in again, as promised, when the number broke $5,000. As of this writing, the Draft Clark fund holds $5,633. When the number breaks $10,000, I'll chip in again and then look to the next goal (maybe overtaking Obama's $27k?). This may not amount to much more than a hill of beans, "but damn it, this is OUR hill, and these are OUR beans!"

-----

See how Clark stacks up in terms of cold, hard, netroots support here:

http://www.actblue.com/directory

More details on how ActBlue works here:

http://www.actblue.com/faq

You can also pre-order "A Time To Lead" on Amazon:

Amazon.com

If you prefer to pledge instead of donate now, here's one place you can go:

Jordan11's recent dkos post

If you would like to sign a Draft Clark petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?wesclark

[AX10]

10. Run Wes Run! Run Wes Run! Run Wes Run! Run Wes Run! `

Please Run!!! :dem: :dem: :dem:

Because the Republicans are :crazy: :boring:


WE WANT WES! :applause: