"Clark Betting His Quest on Campaign's Second Hill"

[Kathleen04]

Clark Betting His Quest on Campaign's Second Hill

By Craig Crawford, CQ Columnist

CONCORD, N.H. – Wesley K. Clark is on a roll. Having skipped the Jan. 19 caucuses in Iowa that will kick off the actual Democratic presidential nominating contest, the retired general is setting his sights on New Hampshire's primary a week later on Jan. 27 — and he is on the move here.

"I am an old soldier and I always believe in taking the next hill," Clark told several hundred Democrats gathered in the Concord High School auditorium Jan. 8.

In one of the riskiest gambles of the race, Clark is counting on other Democrats wounding front-runner Howard Dean in Iowa. Then he plans to pick up the pieces in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation delegate selection primary. (Tuesday's District of Columbia primary is a Democratic "beauty contest" only, and Dean is the only top-tier candidate on the ballot.)

Clark's strategy could work. Though still far behind Dean in New Hampshire polls, the former NATO commander has quietly and steadily moved to second place. He seems to be the only candidate moving forward in the Granite State. Voters are flocking to his town hall meetings, dubbed "Conversations with Clark." They swoon to the dramatic video of his military career shown before he appears. They stand in line for his yard signs afterward.

-snip-

http://www.cq.com/corp/show.do?page=crawford/crawford_current

[tameszu]

1. Clark is doing some serious work in NH

At the rate at which he's filling town halls (2-3 a day, 200-1000 people per meeting or pancake breakfast), pretty soon a huge proportion of probably NH primary voters will have seen him in person. No wonder he's had such a boost