Quotes of the Day
Wesley Clark’s entourage took over the small room in the Balsams Grand Hotel in New Hampshire’s White Mountains like an invading army. Coming to greet 10 of the 23 voters in the tiny town of Dixville Notch, which since 1964 has cast the first primary votes in the country every four years at midnight on the day of the New Hampshire primary, the General was accompanied by nine journalists, a press advance staffer, a traveling press secretary, the trip director, the New Hampshire press secretary, the campaign’s New Hampshire state director, the field organizer for Dixville and its surrounding towns, three campaign volunteers, Clark's brother-in-law Gene, who has joined the General on the trail, his personal aide Amad and the three-man CNN crew following around Amad for a story on so-called “body aides” — the people who trail directly behind each presidential candidate, carrying notes and keeping them on schedule.
After Clark walked into the ballot room at Balsams, which has walls full of memorabilia from past campaigns, he tried to start talking to some of the Dixville Notch residents, who are fawned over like no other 23 voters in America because all the New Hampshire papers report the Dixville results on the morning of the primary. But after talking to one resident, Clark couldn’t find another because the room was so full of aides and press. Finally, Connie Larossa, one of the press aides, announced “voters over there, press over here” so Clark could just focus on one side of the room where the potential supporters stood. Once he could see them, Clark gave a strong speech and drew enthusiasm from the Dixville residents. Still, this wasn’t exactly fertile ground for Clark, or any other Democratic candidate, even though his campaign drove 1.5 hours through several inches of New Hampshire snow to get there. Of the 23 voters in the town, 12 are Republicans and are 11 independents (who can still vote in the state's Democratic primary).
Unlike the other candidates, Clark has never experienced New Hampshire without a huge entourage following him. He entered the race late and with great fanfare in September and from that moment on has had the challenge of directing a major presidential campaign even though he has never run for elective office, without having the few weeks or months of having small events with few journalists and little staff like the other candidates. That inexperience often shows. At one point on Thursday, he couldn’t remember the names of “Claremont” (the town he was headed to) or “Dixville Notch” (the town he had just left). While trying to finish the speech at Dixville Notch, he said “I started out as a camp counselor when I was 14 and I want to be camp counselor of America ... at whatever age I’ll be.”
But don’t count out the general, who will turn 59 on Dec. 23. At town hall meetings the campaign holds in nearly every city, Clark usually gives a speech of only about five minutes and then takes questions for as much as an hour. Voters are impressed with his command of details on domestic policy, such as his laying out exactly how many billions he would collect by raising taxes on the wealthy and raising or cutting from other programs to balance the budget. "He exudes leadership," said Bob Holderied, a 74-old retired man who attended one of Clark's town halls. The General also has a natural base in veterans, who come out in droves to ask the former NATO commander questions about foreign policy and veterans’ benefits. And Clark says any problems in his political style are outweighed by his stellar resume. “I’m not a professional politician,” he constantly says on the campaign trail. “I’m a leader.”
- Perry Bacon Jr.
- The general is new to this campaigning thing, but he's learning fast