The General dumping on his supporters?

[sfecap]

What's up with that?

Clark is ignoring the supporters who ran draft Clark websites, and started a grassroots campaign for him?

Hell, Dean would have hired them. :-)

[Dookus]

1. umm...

is there a link or a story or anything to go along with this?

And should he have hired them as top advisors? I'm not sure what you think he should have done.

[sfecap]

2. There's a story going around about it..

Lemme see if I can find a link.

Websites shutting down? Supporters unhappy and talking about it.

[StephNW4Clark]

website shut down

the only one shut down is digitalclark.com due to copyright laws. all others are still running, but also direct people to the official campaign website as well.

[meegbear]

5. Don't talk ...

Put up a link or shut up.

[sfecap]

8. Here ya go...

There's a nice story over at The Daily Kos...

(snip)

Two pro-Clark sites, ClarkRecruits.com and DigitalClark.com, have already been shut down, and a third, DraftWesleyClark.com, is slated to be disbanded within the month, according to its founder. ClarkRecruits.com had helped would-be volunteers link up with other Clark supporters in their areas; now volunteers have to fill out a form on the candidate's official site (Clark04.com) and wait for the main campaign to figure out what to do with them. And on Saturday, DigitalClark.com was shut down at the behest of the Clark campaign. "Our apologies -- this website, and its content, is no longer available. For information about General Clark and his presidential campaign, please visit www.clark04.com," read a message on the site. DigitalClark had provided visitors with downloadable video files of past Clark media appearances; that information is no longer available. According to Ellen Dana Nagler of Santa Barbara, Calif., who maintained the video archives, the campaign was concerned about the possibility that the site violated copyright laws and prevailed upon its managers to shut it down.

"They are destroying the parts of the draft movement that worked really well and they are transforming the draft movement into people who want to lick envelopes," says one worried member of the movement. "They are rebuilding the Kerry campaign with a better candidate."

The tensions between the two groups had been building for months, ever since DraftClark2004.com split off from DraftWesleyClark.com late this past spring. By the day after Clark announced his candidacy, John Hlinko, DraftWesleyClark.com's founder and the man who held the keys to the single most valuable property the draft movement could bring to the campaign, was reportedly ready to walk.

(more...)

www.dailykos.com

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Here ya go.

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/09/franke-ruta-g-09-25.html

[diplomats]

4. There was a story someone posted this morning

A few people who worked on one of the draft Web sites were mad Clark is now running a traditional campaign. I didn't think it was a big deal, but that's my opinion.

[oasis]

3. No doubt Clark is acting on the orders of the evil Clintons so Hillary

can get the nomination. :eyes:

[TLM]

7. I'm really starting to think that the Draft Clark folks...

really built Clark up as more than he is and their idealized image of how great he is, doesn't fit the man himself, nor the agenda he wants to push.

The Draft Clark folks have been making Clark out as this great progressive liberal hope, and I think that's news to Clark, who is looking more and more like a republican corporate insider who has been working with the PNAC folks and Henry Kissinger... and now he's suddenly running as a Dem?

Something stinks...

[StephNW4Clark]

9. From John Hlinko, co-founder of DraftWesleyClark.com

Hey there, everyone. We've been battling this for months now -- the
media simply doesn't believe that grassroots citizens can build this
kind of movement. They are convinced that somehow,
someway, "professionals" must be driving it.

Don't believe the hype. Just like the General himself, this
grassroots movement is indeed "the real deal."

Ah yes, there will be more and more stories like this, but if I can
throw in my two cents:

1) Don't believe everything you read -- the last article identified
me as "Greek-Lithuanian" (I am Slovak Italian), and I have never
once been correctly quoted;

2) The media loves drama, and when things are going well, drama
needs to be created.

3) Don't be discouraged -- every campaign has growing pains, but for
what it's worth... I am personally astounded by how well things have
already come together. Sure, it's still working to integrate the
draft movement fully, but it's happening more and more every day.

4) Keep your eye on the prize -- we've all been working to elect one
heck of a President... now we've got the chance to do it. Keep your
eye on the prize, and make it happen.


Now, re: DraftWesleyClark.com stuff specifically:

1) Yes, legally, we had to sell the names at "fair market value,"
but... believe me, we are not getting rich on this. In fact, I can
assure you that starting this effort was the single worst financial
decision I made in the last ten years (it even beat my purchase
of "Webvan" stock). That being said... knowing the quality of
General Clark, I don't regret it for a second. :)

2) Grassroots/McCurry connection: We are indeed in the same space,
but we are also in the same building as a French language school.
And I can assure you that neither Mike McCurry nor Jacques Chirac
had anything to do with this. :)

Keep the faith, keep on driving forward, and... keep making history!

John

[returnable]

11. Pretty much what I expected

The different Draft Clark groups were gonna get folded into the official campaign.

Knowing the rivalry between draftwesleyclark.com and draftclark2004.com, I'm not surprised some egos got bruised in the process.

Nor is it news that some experienced Dems signed on early - that was kind of a big part of the movement: Democrats weren't satisfied with the current crop of candidates.

I belong to a couple of Clark e-lists that grew out of the Draft Clark movement, and no one is expressing disappointment yet.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

10. Look, There Is NO WAY This Was Orchestrated

Clark made his final decision the Monday before his announcement. Here is my personal account to that effect:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=377795

If this had been planned out far in advance, don't you think that he, with a mastery of logistics that only a general could have, would've been just a WEE bit more prepared and organized when he came out of the gate?

The grassroots in LA is strong and real, there are hundreds if not thousands of us who are volunteering for the General, but we still don't even have official BUMPER STICKERS yet for our guy. Or lawn signs. Or even much (or any, in certain cases) coordination with the campaign, which by all accounts is still sorting itself out since it was called together so hastily.

These are not the hallmarks of a slick, pre-packaged campaign.

Frankly, I kind of wish these wild, sour grape theories HAD been true, because that would've made our lives a whole lot easier and the General's transition a whole lot smoother. But it's not, and we just have to let the chips fall where they may.

I am much more interested in the debate tonight, than reading about a bunch of idle speculation and rumor from a few people who were upset that they weren't immediately selected as campaign leaders. Check your egos at the door, folks. The rest of us have work to do.

DTH

[babzilla]

12. seems like the campaign handled it poorly

why didn't they just provide links to the existing sites on the official site like Dean does?

That would have gone a long way to avoid hurt feelings by the people that had already put a lot of time and effort into convincing the candidate to run.

It was especially dumb because there was info on those sites regarding his policy positions. Why shut those sites down while the official campaign site's "on the issues" page was still under construction?

[GalleryGod]

13. Cool! Maybe we can get the General to run THIS Website!

:pals: