The Wes wing? The waiting game will soon be over.

The Wes wing?
Supporters say Wesley Clark can do to Bush what he did to Milosevic. But first the telegenic military hero has to take on Howard Dean.
By Eric Boehlert - Salon
Sept. 5, 2003 | The waiting game will soon be over.

Wesley Clark, retired NATO commander, former CNN analyst, ardent Bush critic, and dream presidential candidate to a lot of wistful Democrats, says he will soon announce whether he is running for president. The guessing has played out for nearly a year as Clark, a political neophyte, has worked behind the scenes, quietly gauging his chances.

On Wednesday Clark officially declared himself a Democrat, telling CNN that if he ran for president, he'd seek the Democratic nomination. "It's a party that stands for internationalism. It's a party that stands for ordinary men and women," Clark said. "It's a party that stands for fair play and equity and justice and common sense and reasonable dialogue." He told the network he hadn't made up his mind to run but added, "I'm closer to working my way through it."

"He's not going to go into battle without an accurate assessment of local troops on the ground, and allies," says John Hlinko, co-founder of DraftWesleyClark.com, one of the handful of grassroots online groups urging the telegenic general to enter the Democratic primary. The organizations do no work directly with Clark and insist they remain in the dark about his intentions to run for president.

His candidacy, this late in the game, would be novel, to say the least.

"He has no political experience, no fundraising, little name recognition, and no endorsements," notes Rogan Kersh, a professor of politics at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. "In normal times that's a recipe for utter humiliation, and you may as well stay home."

But these are not normal times. This is the first presidential election since 9/11, and terrorism and national security are the issues that reign supreme.