Then & Now:
From the Beginning … Part II

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From the Beginning Part II…Susan Putney’s Story
“This Amazing Journey with Wes”

Welcome back to “Then and Now,” and thanks to all of you who commented on the first installment, “From the Beginning Part I … John Hlinko’s Story.”

In Part I, John talked about the “please run” letters people wrote and stored at his DraftWesleyClark.com site, beginning in March 2003. Part II continues that story with New Hampshire’s Susan Putney. In the late winter/early spring of 2003, Susan had been a more or less apolitical but concerned marketing executive who subsequently devoted months of her life, around the clock, first to the Draft Clark Movement and later to the Clark ’04 campaign. She made it all happen in New Hampshire…with a bunch of help from her friends.

I interviewed Susan some time ago for my Nostalgia Project. The story below includes a few comments from John so as to paint a complete picture of a historic day and its aftermath.

Stan Davis

Susan Putney -- Then

Susan joined the WesleyClark2004 group on April 15, 2003. Other notables joining in April were Hlinko, Matt Stoller, Brent Blackaby, Jason McIntosh, Elisabeth Graham, Josh Lerner, Judy Gordon, Carol Smith (Miami_Lorac), Dick Burton, and Amanda Propes.

“Figure it out.”

Susan told me how she got involved:

In the months leading up to and during the Gulf War, many CNN viewers took note of the intelligent, articulate military analyst sitting next to Aaron Brown [the host of CNN’s “Newsnight”]. Like those viewers, I took note of General Wesley Clark and started Googling him to find out more about his background. The more I read, the more amazed I was at his credentials, his experience, his knowledge, and the ease with which he discussed foreign policy and national security issues.

As a native New Hampshire voter, I was exposed to numerous candidates who had paraded through our state for more than two years, but was not ready to support any of them. I felt none of them had the national security experience necessary to guide us through this era of terrorism. Terrorism and the war in Iraq were the two biggest issues in this election, in my opinion.

I wondered if Wesley Clark could be the dream candidate the Democratic party needed to go head-to-head against George Bush. Actually, it was the thought of that match-up that made me want to work and get General Clark to consider running. Without knowing if there was any kind of organization in place, I immediately wrote letters to editors of New Hampshire papers, talking up General Clark’s credentials. I called George Bruno [a former ambassador to Belize] and Jim Normand [one of the top 100 Democratic activists in the state], since I saw on the PoliticsNH.com website they were already supporting General Clark. George suggested we wage a campaign to get him to run. When I asked him how to do that, he said, “Figure it out!” But I had no formal campaign experience.

Online, I found a Yahoo! mailing list of individuals who were also intrigued with Wes Clark. There were only ten of us on that list in the beginning, all joining within days of each other. I told them what I was doing in New Hampshire and how I was calling top Democrats and activists encouraging them to support Wesley Clark.

I met up with an activist from D.C. who had just started a website called DraftWesleyClark.com and was working to heighten awareness for a possible Clark candidacy. Since there were so few of us at that time, we could be as creative as we wanted. In addition to collecting letters encouraging Wesley Clark to run, we decided to wage a media campaign to tell the country why Wesley Clark was a “dream” candidate.

Note: the official membership count of the Yahoo! group at the time was in the dozens, but probably only ten or so were active posters.

The “activist” in D.C. was of course John Hlinko, whose story appeared in Part I of “Then and Now.” It would be a couple of months before DraftClark2004.com appeared.

Susan added this anecdote:

One funny thing I remember. Back when the draft was just starting, Clark had been in New Hampshire, not when I presented him the letters, but before then and the rumors were just starting about Wes in politics. Then one night while Wes was sitting next to Aaron [Brown], Aaron did the “morning papers” and showed headlines from various papers. I remember his holding up a copy of the Manchester Union Leader and kidding Wes, he said something like “Here’s a paper that might be of interest to you…chuckle chuckle.” Wes looked at him and said something like, “Why would you think that?” They both laughed and I realized Aaron knew there was a movement afoot to get Wes’s attention politically.

In a later message to me, she told the same story that Marla posted in a comment on Part I:

I was writing to Wes weekly at CNN asking questions about the war and telling him I was talking him up with key Democratic activists in our state. I’m sure he thought I was a pest or something because he’d get an e-mail weekly at his CNN e-mail address. I was always complimenting him on how he presented his analysis of the war and asking technical questions about the military.

I also remember a time or two when Aaron talked to Wes and he had just interviewed David Gergen about politics and asked Gergen who would make a good President and who had national security credentials. I remember David saying, “What about Wes Clark? He’s got the right credentials.” Next Aaron was interviewing Wes about the war and his analysis and at the end he talked about the elephant in the room. And that elephant was what was Wes’s take on David Gergen’s suggestion that Wes run for President. Wes said he was flattered but said he wasn’t interested.

The 1000 Letters

Working feverishly with Hlinko, Susan personally delivered the first 1000 “please run” letters posted at DraftWesleyClark.com on May 12, 2003 on Gen. Clark’s first visit to New Hampshire. John commented in Part I:

So in terms of timing, we were taking letters pretty much from the get-go in mid-March. But we really didn’t kick into high gear until early April (registering the main domain name, doing press, etc.). So the vast majority of the letters Susan delivered for us would’ve been collected from early April – May 12 (really more like May 10, given the timing in printing them, making arrangements, etc.) That was a watershed moment – from a press standpoint. I absolutely wanted to do it in New Hampshire, since I knew the reporters there would draw the obvious implication, given the first-primary status. And Susan was a star – making the delivery, making just the right statement to the General as she did it, and most importantly…doing it in front of the reporters.

Susan posted a Fox News online story on May 13. Here’s an excerpt:

If he runs, he would join nine candidates already seeking the Democratic nomination or openly thinking about it. Susan Putney, an advertising vice president from Dover, spends her nights and weekends organizing a grass-roots effort urging Clark to run. She's been e-mailing Democrats around the state asking them to consider Clark and hold off on endorsing other candidates.

"It's a huge decision. We respect that," she said. "We'll wait."

It was former ambassador George Bruno who arranged the meeting.

A few days later, Susan posted to the Yahoo! group:

Wanted to let everybody know in the note I got from Mark Nichols, he said the General was very impressed by the letters and indicated many of them were very moving.

He has read them. Let's keep it going. If we can move him that much with 1000, think what we can do with 3000 or more.

Susan says more about the letter presentation below in the section called “This Amazing Journey With Wes.”

The letters and the attendant media attention gave legitimacy to the Movement. Susan and John Hlinko both started getting calls and requests for interviews from media outlets all over the country, leading Susan to develop a marketing strategy for the Draft Movement.

Still in the Draft days she later developed a “campaign in a box,” including laptop presentations, brochures and biographies that could be printed out and distributed to fellow draftrooters. It was advice and tools like this that distinguished the Draft Clark Movement from most of the others, especially those we’re seeing here in 2006. People like John and Susan stepped up to provide leadership to the grassroots, giving them ideas and tools to make things happen.

Susan went on to co-chair New Hampshire for Clark in the campaign along with George Bruno, Jim Normand and Dudley Dudley. Susan once admitted she was unsure what a state co-chair was supposed to do, so she got involved with many areas. She stood on street corners holding signs for visibility for Wes in 20 below zero weather, she marched in parades with Clark banners, she canvassed neighborhoods, attended rallies, stuffed flyers, phone-banked, drove to more than 50 appearances in NH while videotaping nearly all of Wes’ NH appearances, and provided photographs for his campaign website and for the NH for Clark website. Additionally, she edited the Veterans for Clark electronic newsletter as well as the New Hampshire for Clark electronic newsletter working with the PR Director. If there was a need, she volunteered. She even offered her home for New Year’s Eve 2003/2004 where Wes and Gert and about 75 former Draft volunteers toasted the General.

“This Amazing Journey With Wes”

Fast forward to the day after the end of our dream, February 12, 2004. Some of this repeats what she had written earlier, but I didn’t edit anything out in the interest of maintaining the full context and integrity of the original. She posted it in the WesleyClark2004 and ClarkActionTeam Yahoo! groups. The “Little Rock speech” referenced below was Gen. Clark’s withdrawal remarks on February 11, the day after the Tennessee and Virginia primaries.

It's been a little over 18 hours as I write this since the Little Rock speech. It's hard to believe it's over. I've been through a plethora of emotions the past couple of days, including crying, anger, sadness, hope, and acceptance.

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this wild ride. When I first saw General Clark on CNN back in February/early March I began to wonder if he could be a candidate for President. During the war, my eyes were often glazed from watching too many late nights or early mornings of General Clark on television. I was a Clark junkie, no doubt about it.

In March when I discovered the NH Tallyboard online and found Ambassador George Bruno and Jim Normand as two of the top 104 activists already supporting the non-candidate Clark, I immediately called them. In my first conversation with George, I told him I thought Wesley Clark could be our next President. Since George had co-chaired Clinton's NH campaign, I told him I had never done anything political in my life (except shook Dick Gephardt's hand in '88, manned a phone bank one evening before the NH primary for Gore and attended one Gore rally) and didn't know what to do next. He said if we wanted to get Wes Clark to run, we'd have to wage a campaign. I asked how. His comment, which I will never forget, was "figure it out!". So we did.

Living in New Hampshire, you get to hear the other candidates up close and personal, and after watching, listening and not liking what I was hearing, I was ready to work to promote General Clark, whether he was a candidate or not. He was far better than anyone already announced. In March, not knowing anybody else in NH other than George or Jim who even knew who Wes Clark was, I began writing letters to NH democratic activists touting his credentials, writing letters to editors of NH newspapers. I sent emails to friends, family, State Representatives and Senators, anybody with email addresses encouraging them to watch Clark on CNN. I called into radio talk shows to talk up the General.

In early April I linked up with a handful of other Clark junkies on this yahoo mailing list and found I was not alone in my mission. There were others who had watched and listened to him on CNN and thought General Clark was the answer to all of our prayers.

April was a blur. Every day was filled with letter-writing to papers all over the country. Linking up with John Hlinko and DraftWesleyClark.com, and finding a website where we could send letters encouraging Clark to run was a blessing. We began a mission to get as many letters in as possible to encourage the General to get in the race. By April I started to build a mailing list in NH of people who were intrigued by Clark's credentials. Activists thought I was off my rocker proposing a man for the Presidency who was not even in the race. I started going to county democratic meetings and talking this man up. It looked like an uphill battle.

By May still working closely with John Hlinko, I heard General Clark was going to be in NH on May 11th and I was invited by George Bruno to meet the General. Our goal was to give General Clark the first 1000 letters that had come through from the draft movement. I remember being incredibly nervous meeting such a distinguished man. I rehearsed a speech over and over. It was obvious General Clark did not know anything about the draft. I explained our goal, how the movement was growing, and how much our country needed him to consider running. As I handed him the letters, the letter from a young sailor, Montoya, was on the top. He had written to General Clark while coming back from the Persian Gulf aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln pleading for him to run. I made sure General Clark saw the email. As he read it, his eyes watered, he took my hand and shook it and said "These are amazing. I'm very moved. But I'm not a candidate." When the press asked him what he thought about receiving 1000 emails, he remarked he did not know about the draft until just now, and he couldn't help but be moved looking at the letters.

Right after that May presentation, Jason McIntosh, John Hlinko and I decided to cut a radio spot called Dream Candidate. John submitted the first draft of copy, Jason found a studio to cut the spot in Oklahoma, using his own voice as the male voice, and I paid for the radio time in NH on my credit card. Our first radio ads in NH were going to break in May. We were gaining steam!

Around that time, Jason, Brent Blackaby and I decided to form a PAC and operate just like a campaign to help compel Clark to run. So we formed Draft Clark 2004, became a PAC, and started a mission to develop infrastructure and coordinators across the country. Draft Wesley Clark was focusing on writing letters and generating media buzz and doing a kick butt job of that. The only problem with a PAC is we could have no communication with the candidate. But it was worth it in the long run. Jason had worked for the DNC and had a former DNC attorney file the paperwork for us. Another friend of his was a Washington political PR whiz so we'd watch Clark on television and immediately issue press releases just like the other candidates stating his positions on various issues. We learned about Clark from his TV appearances, and Clark learned about our combined movement from the press.

We had our first meetup in NH with only three people showing up. We sat in a booth at the Merrimack Restaurant in Manchester talking about what we needed to do. It was a daunting task, but we were well underway lobbying, writing, evangelizing and building a campaign.

The NH database continued to grow. People visiting the Draft Clark 2004 website who were from NH were given to me to contact. We raised seed money to print bumper stickers, pins, etc. The press releases continued to be fired out almost daily. Another Clark appearance helped us define his position on important issues. More country democratic meetings but no candidate appearances. It was slightly depressing to go to meetings and put a photo of Clark on the table when the other campaigns had their flesh and blood candidates show up to promote themselves. Still, we collected names, passed out bumper stickers, wrote letters to papers, lobbied key Democrats not just in NH but across the country. I gave presentations on my laptop in the kitchens of some NH State Senators and Representatives encouraging them to stay neutral until Clark got into the race.

We hooked up with an activist in Texas named John Oeffinger who was having success touting Clark to Texas legislatures. He brought his campaign expertise to our movement.

By June, we were looking for office space to open the first Draft Clark 2004 office in the country. We settled on the space of former Governor Jeanne Shaheen and negotiated a short-term lease. The space was horrible and needed to be painted and cleaned up. A work team of draft supporters from across the country converged on Dover, NH over the Fourth of July weekend and transformed the office into our first draft headquarters in the country.

Jim Normand showed up to help us dedicate the space and hang the banner. We had gone from an internet campaign to a brick and mortar structure. The organizations were growing rapidly. Letters were pouring into John Hlinko's site and our site, our coordinators were signing on, and General Clark was told about the office opening from the media who had received a press release. In June, General Clark went on Tim Russert's show and said he was seriously considering the call of the draft. We were getting his attention.

Through the media, friends of Clark told us to "crank it up" a notch. We needed to do some highly visible and effective things to get Wes' attention and to get him to take the movement seriously.

In August, we decided to open a headquarters in Little Rock, thinking that if we do so, General Clark would know we were breathing down his neck. Our goal was to make it impossible for him to say no. He was told of the office during another television appearance by the media. He shook his head and kept saying he was amazed at the efforts. John [Hlinko] and his team developed an amazing TV ad and decided to secure pledges for the General. We were all working towards the same goal of getting Clark to run. And if he decided not to run, we were prepared to wage a campaign to get him as a write-in candidate.

In September we were notified General Clark was going to run. I remember the conference call he had with the draft movement the night before he announced and cried my eyes out. Our dream was becoming a reality. A few concerned citizens and work on a grassroots movement could indeed change the world. The combined movement, following all the FEC rules, eventually turned over more than 80,000 names to General Clark, 300 coordinators in all 50 states, more than $2 million in pledges and offices in several states including Little Rock and NH. He was not starting from scratch.

When he came to NH after announcing for his first campaign visit at the end of September, he was pumped. General Clark told me during that visit that those letters presented to him were his first time ever knowing of the draft movement's existence. As I met him at the private jetport with Ambassador Bruno, Jim Normand and a few others, he gave me a hug and told me that he would always associate that meeting in May as the first time he heard about the draft movement. I told him the movement was tens of thousands strong and covered the whole country. He said he was counting on every one of them to help him.

We had a large rally on the steps of City Hall in Dover, and I had the privilege of introducing General Clark to the crowd of about 700 people. I recalled the story of how the draft movement began discovering him on CNN, with a handful of people and blossomed into a movement of tens of thousands. General Clark stood behind me and kept shaking his head in disbelief hearing the story for the first time. During that visit, I was asked to be one of his four state co-chairs in NH. For somebody who never done anything political except vote, it was an incredible honor. But for this man, I would walk across hot coals if he asked.

His momentum was gangbusters during that first campaign visit. He was treated like a major rockstar. Then waiting for more than a month for his second visit, the momentum was gone. He had gone from first in the polls in NH to last. That month delay really hurt us up here. It was during that time that he was getting his organization in place and putting his position papers together.

The months of September through the NH primary were a blur. Chores in my house were neglected, my neighbors rarely saw me as the pace quickened. Like so many of you, I put in 40+ hours in my regular job but my evening and weekends were committed to the campaign putting in another 40-50 hours. Sleep was minimal. My four cats, who were used to having me around, never saw me except in the morning and at night to get their meals.

During a campaign event in the fall, we turned over several draft souvenirs to the NH political library in Concord, NH including draft signs, buttons, replicas of the 1000 letters, bumper stickers, etc. General Clark reenacted the presentation of those first 1000 letters with a great deal of humor pretending to take them as if he was being handed a grenade. He has the greatest sense of humor. That event was also my first time meeting the ever-gracious Gert Clark.

It was amazing to watch the transformation of the man into the candidate. From his first visit in September until his last the day of the primary, it was like night and day. He had blossomed. He was a fast learner and he was masterful at his craft. He told me numerous times he was having the time of his life doing this. He said it was fun and it was the most amazing experience he had ever had. And he reiterated on many occasions both publicly and privately, "I'm going to be President". I had no reason to doubt him. Here is a man who has won everything he has tried. He did not know defeat.

In December, I became friends with Janet Ritz and got to understand Clark's Army and the impact they had on this movement. She is truly amazing and the supporters in her group are outstanding grassrooters. I wish we had been able to bring Janet and her supporters together with the draft movement earlier. It was a mistake in hindsight but I honestly did not know of Janet until after the campaign was well underway.

When it was announced Clark would pass on Iowa, it was a surprise to us. For most of January, he was the only candidate (other than Lieberman) who was in the state, and NH voters got to hear his message. He moved up in the polls.

We held a lot of hope with the last debate in NH. We thought he did well, but the press did not. He was continually overlooked by the media who chose to highlight the other candidates, especially the two Iowa winners. The momentum from Iowa was overwhelming. It was a tidal wave we could not escape. We did not anticipate the kind of impact it would have on our state.

We had always said we thought he would come in behind the New England candidates. We ended up third. I wish we could have gotten him into second, but we could not overcome the momentum from Iowa.

We handed the baton off to our colleagues in other states for the next legs of the journey. We made our calls and did what we could from a distance. When the writing was on the wall, it was not something we wanted to face.

I think it is very important for EVERYBODY in this movement not to jump the gun, not to endorse another candidate, not to give your mailing lists to other candidates or do ANYTHING until we hear what General Clark wants to do. As a group, we are formidable. As individuals, we are much weaker. [Emphasis mine…Stan] If we can hold on and possibly bring Deaniacs once their candidate is done into our movement, we will be a major force to be reckoned with. Recruit Deaniacs as Howard's campaign fades. They will need a home and we can provide them with one. And we will line up behind General Clark to receive our marching orders. We do not know if or who he will endorse, if he will run for another office, if he will work to make change, etc. But we need to be patient, not run off in a million directions, setting or suggesting policy for the group but instead wait, regroup, recharge and be ready to mobilize for our General.

Please please - stay neutral, hold onto your mailing lists, do not endorse anybody, and hold all the assets you brought to this campaign for General Clark. Those lists, the databases, the delegates, the force we are as a whole, are the tools General Clark will need to make his next move. If he is to have leverage with the Democratic community, he will need us, our lists, our delegates to negotiate with. We may be his leverage to become part of the ticket, or part of the next administration, to help defeat George Bush.

Stay strong, stay united and be patient. We'll get our marching orders soon enough!

Thank you to everybody who was a part of this amazing journey. It has been the most fulfilling achievement I've had in my life. I hope it's just the first chapter of many more we will all share together.

Susan Putney -- Now

Throughout the Draft and campaign, Susan had put her life on hold. She had to recoup when the campaign ended. After changing careers shortly after the campaign ended, moving from entertainment marketing, Susan is now an independent insurance agent and financial planner working in New Hampshire and Maine. She’s still an activist in New Hampshire Democratic politics, but because of her new career start-up, has had to put her activism on hold until after the mid-term elections. She has begun to attend various appearances by possible ’08 candidates as they come to NH.

Susan is without a doubt one of the true heroes of the Draft and campaign. She was critical in making it happen, at a great personal sacrifice, not only in New Hampshire, but through her work at the Draft sites,.. She’s also one damned fine and grand lady in all respects. It was a great honor and privilege to have met her in person.

Just one last word. So many people owe so much to Susan Putney. Having someone like Susan living in New Hampshire was a Godsend to Wes Clark and to all of us who were there. Her legacy will live on. The “Then and Now” team and all of Clarkdom is deeply appreciative of Susan’s willingness to post her story.

The subtitle of my still unfinished book (it may be being written in this series blog, LOL) is “Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” I’m not saying that Susan is ordinary…not by any means…but she was definitely one of the people who did extraordinary things.

Stan

Now we need to hear YOUR stories. We’ll lean toward stories from the early days at first. If you were a May-June 2003 Clarkie, start writing. We’ll follow these stories with stories generated by the next magic day after May 12, 2003: June 15, 2003. Send them to sdavis8585@msn.com.

Until next time…

The “Then and Now” Team:
Stan Davis
Florence Upson