If a lot of us suggest Wesley Clark as the VP (write-in campaign to Kerry)

[LittleApple81]

pointing out that he has been the best Kerry defender, the most articulate, the best spokesperson on TV, a guy with integrity (and good looks which always helps), a guy with no Congress tie ins... do you think his campaign would listen? He needs to appoint a capable VP ASAP!!!!

[NewJeffCT]

1. Can't hurt to try

I think General Clark would be one of the better choices out there - with Max Cleland, Bill Richardson and one or two others. I do not like Gephart.

[LittleApple81]

2. Ditto here. No advantage to Ghepart. Another vote for the war,

another Washington insider, a rather weak voice for the US in general.

[democratreformed]

5. Bill Richardson is my personal favorite

at the present time. BUT I love Wes too.

[Gman]

3. Patience!!

Kerry will announce his VP all in due time. Just sit tight. Nothing is really going to get going until the convention.

[LittleApple81]

4. But he needs somebody else running interception for him. And

Wesley has been so efective.

[Tellurian]

8. Patience is Good advice... We are waging war on 2 fronts..

not just Iraq..

So far we experiencing little skirmishes that will eventualy turn into serious no holds barred battles before this war is won.

[Tellurian]

6. Yep, I think Clark is the BEST choice for the VP slot..

Their looks compliment each other and with the Iraq fiasco, Clark has the background and the expertise to oversee implementation of plans for a stable Iraq.

[Sparkly]

7. The more I see these smears of Kerry from 1971

the more convinced I am that Clark would be a strong VP candidate. The power of a man who got out and protested alongside a man who stayed in the army is the power of reconciliation of so many conflicts and difficulties of the Vietnam era, especially for the veterans who actually saw combat... Something the Chimp and the Snarl can't know.

[ima_sinnic]

9. yes yes and more YES to Wes Clark for VP

Kerry's stance on Iraq is so infeffectual as to be nonexistent--or kind of a weak echo of Bush's. As was pointed out in a DU discussion a few days ago, voters prefer Bush to Kerry on the matter of Iraq--and I say it's because Kerry is offering them nothing, nada, absolutely no other alternative. Though I was a Dean supporter I truly liked Wesley Clark and found his speeches very moving. I also thought he was superbly equipped to handle the Iraq mess and would in fact make an excellent Secretary of State, if not President or VP.

Please please please, John, wake up and make Wesley Clark your VP and give the American people a real alternative to the holocaust just waiting to happen under the wannabe emperor/crusader. It would SO strengthen your candidacy!! Yes, I will write to Kerry's campaign--but sinnic that I am I don't expenct a response or even much willingness to act on the wishes of the voters.

[Qutzupalotl]

18. Y'all should vote in the Veepstakes

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4565073

[Toucano]

20. Done and done! n/t

[knight_of_the_star]

22. Have been

Always for my man Wes!

[onehandle]

10. I want Clark, but....

More so, I want whoever will help Senator Kerry take swing states.

The number crunchers will come up with a few names. I think Wes would help in most states.

[Donna Zen]

21. The numbers of perception:

Most voters make up their minds near the end of campaigns based on perceptions rather than policy. Thus the "soft on defense" meme goes on and on while Democrats vote for huge military budgets and IWRs.

The image of a generation taking the reigns united by the healing power of two opposing Vietnam viewpoints melding is a message that would sell; it would also be the truth. Clark was part of the officer's corp., his best friend at West Point had just been killed in Vietnam, and he was threatened by a protester in England with a knife for defending the US in Vietnam. While Clark could have remained in Oxford, he chose to go....

You need an additional 6 to 10% of the military vote and you can even move "Red" states, never mind the swing states. Of all of the possible VP options, only, only, only Wes Clark can do that for Kerry.

I am personally ambivalent about this. Knowing Clark can seal the deal is great for us and our country, knowing that Wes and Gert have served and don't deserve having mud slung at them from both the right and the left makes me want to see that unique couple go stompin' off around the world doing anything they damn well please. I really have come to like them very much.

6 to 10% additional...the military vote that doesn't cross the street for a regular Dem, but would come if they knew that a General who won a war without losing an American life was about to save their friends and family.

[SoCalDem]

11. If you write in a name of someone who is NOT registered as a write-in,

I think you invalidate your ballot.. Better check before you write someone in ..

[LittleApple81]

12. No...no.. I just want to write TO the Kerry campaign NOW to impress

upon him the worry we have for Bush* smear campaign against him and the admiration we have for Wes.

[robbedvoter]

13. It would be the best way to change that perception of "weak on defense"

The sooner the better.

[JI7]

14. it can't hurt, but kerry wont be making decisions based on that

the edwards people have a thing going on about trying to get kerry to make him vp. but kerry wont decide based on those petitions and things like that. if he wants numbers, it will be based on scientific polling.

[robbedvoter]

15. Kerry better pay attention to stories like this one:

Thought I'd update you all on the story I told you all about the grocery clerk last week who was a Clarkie, but said he would vote for Bush over Kerry now that Wes was out of the race.
As I got the the store this morning, he was just about to go on his morning coffe break, so he asked me if he could buy me a cup of coffee. I said abosolutley he could. Once we were seated in the coffee shop he said he wanted to apologize for upsetting me last week. I told him that the only thing that upset me was that he wouldn't even CONSIDER voting for Kerry over Bush, and that his Bush vote would cancel out my Kerry vote. He told me that, as a Black man he would not consider NOT voting. I told him I agreed with that, that I would never expect someone NOT to vote just for me.
Then he started to explain to me the reason he couldn't/wouldn't vote for Kerry. Seems his older brother was killed in Vietnam, and he feels his brother's memory, and that of the other men and women that died in Vietnam were "disrespected to the highest degree" by the things Kerry said when he returned home. He told me every time he saw Kerry's face on TV, it made him sick, and he'd like to just "punch his lights out". Then he went into how moved he was about how Wes loved the vets and the soldiers. How he hugged the flag when he spoke. I learned that he had attended several of the pancake breakfasts in NH to hear Wes speak. He thanked me for "turning on to Clark. He was the greatest." As I left him, I took off the PROUD TO BE A WAS CLARK DEMOCRAT button I was wearing and pinned it onto his jacket. He told me he would wear it proudly. He told me he would wait and see who Kerry chose as his VP, and if it was Wes, he would "hold nose, and vote for Kerry."
Kerry has NO IDEA how important that VP decision is. I have a feeling that if a Black, Muslim, service worker who cannot be making much money, and is registered Democrat WILL ABSOLUTELY VOTE FOR BUSH RATHER THAN FOR KERRY UNLESS HE CHOOSES A VP THAT OFFSETS HIS FORMER ANTI-VIETNAM RHETORIC... there are MANY more out there who feel the same. WES IS THE VP THAT WILL DO THAT FOR KERRY.

[Nashyra]

17. Ok that does it

I am going to an Executive council womens meeting today and they are in fact trying to get our Senator to come to our County which is one of the fastest growing counties in America to campaign, we are a swing state, Nevada. I am going to ask our group to support a letter of support of Clark for VP and make sure that Senator Reid gets a request that he support Clark for Vp and also will be sending one to our Congresswomen and then forward one to the Kerry campaign. We are working our asses off for the Dem party well the leadership can damn well take some input from the rank and file, and the new rank and file are alot of Dems who have friends that are moderate repukes and swing voters, if they want the vote then they have to take into consideration what we have hearing in the field.

[Toucano]

19. I thought Clark

had defended Kerry's war protests?

Would that influence your friend's opinion?

It seems to me that there are a lot of misconceptions about Clark even among Clark supporters. :) It's strange. Maybe I'm the one with the misconceptions. :crazy:

[Donna Zen]

24. defending and protesting are two different actions

Clark defends ALL of our rights to protest; in fact, he encourages it because it is a sign of a healthy democracy. Agreeing with the right to protest is different than agreeing with someone's reason's for protesting. Clark disagrees with the strategy and execution of Vietnam and took his disagreement not to the streets, but to the policy table. He is one of the creators of the "Powell Doctrine;" a policy that bushCo and Powell have trashed.

[RafterMan]

25. We saw that a lot during the campaign

Somehow he made the pill easier to swallow for a lot of people.

[meow mix]

16. kerry needs help. needs clark.

ill write.. and pray =)
(right after im done praying the John and Tami's car to suffer some divinely imposed type of destruction)

[Ilsa]

23. I love it.

Kerry needs to offer him an active role as VP, like Cheney has for Shrub. Otherwise, I don't think Clark would accept it. He isn't going to spend the next four years going to state funerals.

[Jai4WKC08]

26. The law makes it different now

The VP runs the National Security Council, of which the Secretaries of State, Defense and a whole bunch of other depts are members. As well as the DCI/CIA chief. VP is no longer a figurehead, held in the background to cover minor tasks the President has no time for.

Could the President marginalize his VP? Sure. Would Kerry do it? Not with Clark as VP, not on a bet. He wants his administration to succeed, for his role in history, for re-election, and just for doing the right thing.

Kerry knows Wes Clark's qualifications to help him govern. I'm sure his only question, if he has one, is whether Clark is the best choice to get him elected this year. Seems to me showing some support for Clark, to the campaign and to Jim Johnson, even to Kerry himself when the opportunity arises, can't hurt (as opposed to the near blackmail campaign of that other guy), altho scientific polling and Kerry's own political insticts will ultimately play a bigger role in who he picks.

[oceanbreeze]

27. Clark for VP

Does anyone know if Kerry is listening? In the past, it has appeared that the VP choice didn't make much of a difference to winning or losing an election...well, it might have, for some...but this time around, this election is going to be won or lost on Kerry's decision...Clark is the best man...He is the ONE man who will give this campaign the spark it needs to catch fire. I am beginning to get concerned, because I hear so many people speak of how Kerry does not impress them, and how they will vote for Bush, over Kerry...and sad to say, the ghost of Vietnam, is in the background, taking it's toll..and I, for the life of me, cannot understand why, what Bush did during Vietnam, doesn't seem to have the same affect as Kerry protesting after serving over there, and seeing what was happening, first hand. After the last 3 years, I can't imagine anyone with a brain wanting Bush over anyone, but you can bet your backside, the R's are hoping Kerry will make the wrong choice...Clark was my first choice for President...now he is my only choice for VP..
KERRY/CLARK
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