Anyone Notice Clark Tried To Upstage The Kerry And Edwards Announcements?

On the day Kerry announced, Clark went on TV and said he was definitely a Democrat. On the day Edwards announced, Clark leaked that he was 99% sure. Interestly, the week before Clark announces, Dean leaks a total non-story that he was trying to get him as his VP (or at least a supporter).

Alot of dirty dealings, but I guess that's why they call it politics. But it definitely stains these guys in my book for being underhanded.

It wasn't too bad for Kerry, but I feel rotten for Edwards, who's day of glory got needlessly trickled on.

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...to knock the chimp out of office.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being Nixonian hell, I would rate this a 1.001 on the dirty tricks meter.

Did Kerry and Edwards get exclusive media reservations for the day?

but it's still kind of funny to contrast this attitude with all the threads that have popped up in the last few days, speculating about what kind of "dirty trick" Karl Rove had planned to distract the public on the day of Clark's hoped-for announcement.

I don't believe that Clark was trying to steal thunder from Edwards or Kerry.

At the very least, it's certainly not a 'dirty trick'.

n/t

I think the media was going to ignore Edwards anyway, so I actaully think it was flattering to Edwards that Clark tried to step on his toes. (He could have leaked his announcement when Kerry anounced just a couple days ago.)

By the way, Edwards's announcement footage will probably be turned into some great campaign commercials. What a beautiful, sunny day, and what a good looking crowd. The mill was a fantastic backdrop too. So, regardless of the media coverage yesterday, I'm sure Edwards will get great mileage from yesterday's visuals as the campaign progresses.

They treat him like, "Mr. Cellophane" from the movie, "Chicago."

They were like, ho hum. Who is this guy and why is he bothering us with this announcement?

Had Edwards been smokin' like Dean, his news would have blown Clark off the map. He isn't. The "news" that he's running for president is nine months old now. Should all the other candidates schedule around his ego?

I like Edwards. I think he's highly electable if he could win the nomination but so far Democrats have shown absolutely no interest in promoting him to the White House. I respect Edwards, but he hasn't shown the capacity to win.

how dare these upstarts steal their nomination.

He's had the Iowa thing scheduled for some time.

when they asked him about Clark. We should underestimate Edwards.

The military is as political as any institution in D.C. We really shouldn't forget that.

as you mean to go on.

I mean, was anyone shocked that Edwards was running? I thought he announced months ago. I don't know, maybe I am wrong, but the "Edwards for President" signs and his saying "I am running for President" I guess through me off for sure!

Mike

I guess he wanted to see how those turned out before he decided.

Edwards' formal announcement is kind of a non-event anyway, since he's been running for months. a real candidate has to keep himself in the news on a continual basis. if Edwards can be seriously hurt by a little blip like this, or by failing to get the hoped-for boost from this one-time non-event, then he doesn't stand a chance anyway.

as for Clark - i think a lot of people have reached the limit of their patience with his teasing. i think he's "jumped the shark", to borrow a phrase from the lounge.

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"Alot of dirty dealings, but I guess that's why they call it politics."

This was the point of the post. Not that this was unusual, but precisely because it was usual. Not too many white knights floating in the waters.

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... and many have speculated that Clark has no political savvy, but watching his slow crawl to this announcement, and then witnessing the timing of yesterday's announcement, I'd have to say he's got savvy to spare. It seems prettty obvious that Clark's announcement was timed to drown out Edwards' speech yesterday, as was his "coming out" as a Democrat weeks ago during Kerry's announcement, and while it may not have been a nice tactic, it was indeed a smart thing to do politically.

In fact, the media has been trumpeting all day that Clark upstaged Edwards, and in doing so are probably giving the Clark camp exactly what they hoped for. Clark is hoping to become The Southern Candidate and The War Veteran Candidate, so I'm certain his people have their eye trained on Edwards and Kerry.

I did feel a bit bad for Edwards today, and still feel that he's the dark horse candidate in all of this. We certainly haven't heard the last from Edwards.

but I had just gotten back from the announcement and was REALLY high on Edwards. I was expecting to sit down to the TV and see some really great footage from Robbins. Instead I got, "Clark plans to announce tomorrow...oh, and Edwards announced today." That did steam me pretty good. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Edwards has been running awhile and his announcement isn't that big a deal outside of his campaign. Did anybody really pay that close attention when Kerry made his formal announcement? Did it give him a big boost in poll numbers? I think Edwards going on the Daily Show and stuff like that was what was really important. It showed the kind of good sport he is and will hopefully build on what I saw yesterday...a large percentage of younger people in the audience.

If anything, it seems that Clark was originally heading to an announcement at the same time as Kerry (a time frame Clark had talked about for the whole summer, before Kerry set his time table). Clark moved his time table.

Maybe they tried to upstage HIM. It's not like they weren't already announced and running.

He actually did upstage them.

I'll be taking a nap while the Kerry camp goes after Clark.

n/t

Soon to be Dean, Clark, Dean, Clark, Dean, Clark.

Now the race is just to see who gets to be at the top of the ticket.

But you never know.

That is what I have been very curious about. Quite possible that boob Negroponte will choose to talk about the veto in the UN yeaterday at the exact same time as Clark will announce. Any one care to guess?

and most likely will hurt Clark's announcement today too. Nothing beats a good old natural disaster when it comes to news.

Class is class. I had expected better.