Full Name: Wesley Kanne Clark

Current Office: None

Born: Chicago, Illinois, on December 23, 1944

Education: U.S. Military Academy, West Point (1966); Oxford University, Rhodes Scholarship (1968); National War College (1975)

Religion: Roman Catholic

Family: Married to Gertrude “Gert” Kingston; they have one son, Wesley Jr.

Significant Career Experience:

Four-Star General, U.S. Army
Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, 1997-2000
Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command, Panama, 1996-1997
Director of Strategic Plans and Policy, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1994-1996
White House Fellow, 1975-1976
Commander, Vietnam, awarded Purple Heart and Silver Star, 1969-1970

Publications:

Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism, and the American Empire (2003)

Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat (2002)


General Wesley Clark brings to the 2008 presidential race what he brought in 2004: four stars and over 30 years of military and foreign policy experience. He also brings the profile of a political outsider, having lived most his life in the humble confines of military life. He never ran for office before becoming the last major candidate to enter the presidential primaries in September 2003, just four months before the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

While his unique background won him quite a bit of support from the same political newcomers who similarly propped up outside-the-Beltway candidate Howard Dean, his lack of political experience caused him to stumble badly out of the gate. Clark was drafted to run by a group of Internet-based activists that collected over $2 million in pledges for his would-be campaign and even ran ads in New Hampshire before his announcement.

After announcing, however, he was misquoted on his position on the Iraq war, and his decision to skip the Iowa Caucus was heralded by many (including his own son) as the fatal blow to his campaign. Instead of inheriting the support of then-frontrunner Howard Dean as Dean's campaign collapsed in the final weeks of the Iowa Caucus, Clark stood on the sidelines as John Kerry and John Edwards sucked up Dean’s votes. Despite his lone primary win in Oklahoma, Clark could not stop the surging Kerry and Edwards campaigns, and bowed out several weeks later, endorsing Kerry the next day.

In 2008, look for Clark to avoid past mistakes and run a more organized, defined campaign. He’s already shown the ability to do so -- after his initial stumbles, Clark put together possibly the most detailed package of policy profiles of the field, and his innovations in online organizing rivaled, and in some cases surpassed, the Dean campaign’s. Clark, a fast learner, got much better on the stump as time wore on, finally hitting his stride just before his campaign came to an end.

Clark still retains a large, devoted following of supporters. He consistently places first or second in every blog-based presidential primary straw poll, and he still attracts a crowd when he travels.

Clark’s main challenge heading into 2008 is to keep his relevancy on the national political stage. Like other candidates who come from nowhere, Clark faces the real possibility of heading back to nowhere just as easily. He recently accepted a commentator position at Fox News, giving him a nearly nightly platform to take Democratic talking points straight to the “belly of the beast” of Republican media. While Fox is not the news outlet of choice for many Democratic primary voters, at least Clark will keep his name in the news.

He will face an uphill climb in 2008 against other candidates with higher name recognition and fundraising ability, but if national security emerges as a top issue, Clark will certainly merit a place among the serious contenders.