Clark: 50 State Champ (it's not too late!!!)

by DaveSaber

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Raised $
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Wesley Clark recently directed attetion to ActBlue, and recently told 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 tangible support.
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 (for which BushCo has created a unique historic opening), which suits me just fine.
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, 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).
Having recently plugged ActBlue in his Blogosphere Day entry (see link above), Clark’s subsequent admission to Charlie Rose that his two biggest hurdles have been money and organization finally pushed me to say, “why the heck not?” It’s a long shot that my efforts 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.

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