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Inside Politics
The Morning Grind / DayAhead

Targeting Clark

By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit

Gen. Wesley Clark pulled out of the Iowa campaign and opted to focus his efforts on the race in New Hampshire.
Gen. Wesley Clark pulled out of the Iowa campaign and opted to focus his efforts on the race in New Hampshire.

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UPCOMING PRIMARIES

Monday, January 19: Iowa caucuses

Tuesday, January 27: New Hampshire primary

Tuesday, February 3: Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina primaries; New Mexico Democratic caucus; Virginia Republican caucus

When is your primary? For more key dates in the 2004 election season, see our special America Votes 2004 Election Calendar
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Morning Grind
Wesley Clark

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Wesley Clark should get plenty of rest this weekend. And maybe take a good, long swim. Because starting Tuesday he'll need plenty of energy to outrun the multi-pronged army of critics pressing down on him as his crowds swell and his poll numbers rise in New Hampshire.

Some critics aren't waiting 'til Tuesday.

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie flew to Little Rock yesterday to rip the general's past comments on Saddam Hussein. (Today, Gillespie travels to St. Louis to attack Dick Gephardt's absentee voting record in the House, among other things).

Next up: Andy Stern, the Service Employee International Union's usually mild-mannered chieftain. Stern, fearing that Howard Dean's lead in New Hampshire is slipping, penned a blistering letter that hits union mailboxes this weekend and slams Clark's past flirtations with the GOP. "We cannot afford this leap of faith," Stern wrote ... sternly. (More on this below).

And finally, Ann Richards, the former Texas governor who announced last night on CNN's "Larry King Live" that she's backing Dean, said she'll travel to New Hampshire this weekend to talk about the differences between Dean and his '04 Dem rivals.

'Clark's reading room'

The general is kicking back, unveiling what aides call "Clark's reading room" this morning at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Manchester. The room will feature hundreds of documents from the general's past, which aides have previously made available to journalists.

Clark's room will include:

• His military records, some 290 pages of his entire military personnel file. Nothing will be redacted except his Social Security number.

• His tax returns from the last five years.

• His speaking fees.

• His personal financial disclosures.

• His voter registration in Arkansas.

Clark will speak briefly at the Sheraton about the dangers of executive secrecy, we're told, and refer explicitly to the Bush administration's penchant for privacy. Aides claim their stunt isn't designed to contrast Clark with Dean and his Vermont administration's sealed records. Not at all. But then, they don't have to. We just did it for them.

Union concern over Clark

Back to Stern, whose union already has 10 organizers in New Hampshire working for Dean. While union organizers claim their members back Dean by a 4-to-1 margin, Stern's letter reveals a level of concern about Clark's strength that raises questions about Dean's viability.

"It is unfair to send [SEIU] members into the voting booth on primary day without giving them the information they need to make an informed decision," Stern wrote in the letter. "That is why I want you and your members to understand some serious concerns I have about Wesley Clark's candidacy."

"Let's be clear -- state employees and other voters in New Hampshire take a huge risk by supporting him. Wesley Clark has a life-long pattern of support for national Republicans whose policies have been disastrous for public employees, and that is a track record that raises huge doubts about what he would do if he ever became President."

Stern attacks Clark on several fronts: He notes that Clark voted for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in the 1980s "when they were firing 11,000 air-traffic controllers." He says Clark expressed support for Bush at an Arkansas GOP dinner in 2001 and accuses the retired general of becoming a Democrat because Karl Rove refused to give him a big role in the Republican Party.

"In fact, he only registered as a Democrat four months ago, just weeks before entering the race," Stern added.


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