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By James Q. Lynch The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark will headline the Hawkeye Labor Council’s hog roast fundraiser Saturday in Cedar Rapids. Clark, considered a possible Democratic presidential candidate for 2008 , will speak at the fundraiser, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Teamsters Hall, 5000 J Street SW. In addition to the labor rally, Clark will appear with U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, a Des Moines Democrat, at a State Capitol news conference today to talk about long-term care of soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder. Clark, who visited New Hampshire earlier in the week, will record the weekly podcast he does for his political action committee, Securing America’s Future, while in Cedar Rapids on Saturday afternoon. With his visit this weekend, Clark, who skipped the 2004 Iowa caucuses, will match the one trip and two days he spent in Iowa during 2004-05. He was unable to accept an invitation to an earlier Hawkeye Labor Council fundraiser but asked to be invited to the next one, according to Alan Bernard, the council’s executive director. ‘‘He’s a draw,’’ Bernard said. Based on ticket sales, he estimated the crowd could be as large as 1,000 people. Clark is expected to devote much of his speech to the ongoing war in Iraq. He has been a critic of the Bush administration’s handling of the war. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Blouin and 2nd District U.S. House candidate Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, also will speak at the event. Clark also has private meetings scheduled during his visit, a spokeswoman said.
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