Among Voting Veterans, Military Experience Sells

YORKTOWN, Va. -- On the televisions flickering above the bars at American Legion posts and other veterans' halls here, news channels loop images of presidential candidates endowed with a military aura.

Early on, there was President Bush's flight-suited appearance on an aircraft carrier; then the entry of retired four-star general Wesley K. Clark into the race; and, in recent weeks, Sen. John F. Kerry's reunion with his fellow Vietnam vets.

For presidential aspirants seeking to impress, though, this can be a tough crowd.

"What'd Bush do? He flew a little old airplane around, and he thought he was something, didn't he?" said James Smith, 55, a Bush voter in 2000 who was reconsidering his choice over a Diet Coke at an American Legion post. "Real military experience impresses veterans like me. We know they stand for the military."

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Battlefield valor, or at least military experience, is also important to many veterans. Of a dozen men, both Republicans and Democrats, asked to rank the front-runners in New Hampshire -- Dean, Kerry (Mass.), Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and Clark -- each one chose one or both of the candidates who are decorated veterans: Kerry and Clark.

"I like Clark," said Roger Harner, 53, a Navy veteran and Democratic voter at an American Legion post in Norfolk. "He reminds me of Eisenhower -- he comes on the same way."

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Despite his lack of military experience, Edwards won almost unanimous positive reviews from the veterans for being a "good old boy" and having a "southern demeanor."

"He doesn't know a thing about the military," Smith explained, "but he's a redneck, too."

By contrast, Dean elicited almost visceral dislike. Townsley's response was typical: "I was never that comfortable with him."

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