Then & Now:

Meet the Press Interview Brings in New Draftees – Part I

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The Howard Park Story

The June 15, 2003, “Meet the Press” interview not only greatly energized those already involved in drafting General Clark for President, it brought many new supporters into the Draft movement. We resume our “Then and Now” stories with those whose support of General Clark for President was clinched by that interview.

First up is Howard Park, the Washington DC Democratic Party activist and Clark supporter extraordinaire. He tells his story below.

If, like Howard and Stan Davis, you joined the Draft movement during the summer of 2003—Howard joined the Yahoo! Group on July 19, 2003, perhaps motivated by the “Meet the Press” interview—we would love to schedule your story for one of our next installments. Once we finish with these stories, we will start the stories of those, like Florence, who joined the ranks of Clark supporters right after he declared for the Presidency. No matter when you joined the ranks of Clark supporters, we want to tell your story. Please let us know if you are interested in participating, so we can keep you in mind. Thank you for your interest.

The “Then and Now” Team
Stan Davis (sdavis8585@msn.com)
Florence Upson (f.t.upson@comcast.net)

Here is Howard’s Story:

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My involvement in the 2004 election cycle started after I saw a late 2002 story that former Sen. Gary Hart was considering a run in 2004. I signed up for Meetup.com and in Feb. 2003 about 12 Hart supporters, including Northern Virginia super-activist Chris Ambrose, met to discuss the short-lived Hart boomlet. I had been State Director for Wisconsin during Hart's 1984 campaign. I was determined to get back involved in presidential politics for the first time since 1992. The stakes seemed so great and the necessity of replacing George W. Bush seemed to me to be a moral, not just a political, imperative. About a month later I spoke to Hart and advised him to "move" to New Hampshire, and we lamented the fundraising demands of the process. A week later Hart threw cold water on the long shot bid.

A few weeks later, I met Gov. Howard Dean at a crowded home on Capitol Hill. I liked his fire but thought he would flame-out somewhere on the long road to the White House. I was a man without a candidate.

I often had political discussions with my neighbor, a reporter for a major newspaper who covers the Pentagon. He suggested that I keep an eye on General Wesley Clark. I had only a vague recollection of Clark as a CNN talking head and as NATO Commander. On June 15, 2003 I heard a radio replay of Clark's interview on Meet the Press. It was brilliant. Clark's background and experience seemed EXACTLY what the Democratic Party needed to win in 2004. I had a candidate!

In August 2003 I went to my first Clark Meetup at Stetson's, a beer joint in Washington, DC. The first person I spoke with was a reserved and determined Eric Carbone (who was the backbone of the Clark '04 Internet team). The meeting was run by John Hlinko, who seemed to enjoy every minute. There were about 50 people at the Meetup and most were convinced that Clark, not then-grassroots favorite Howard Dean, had the right stuff to go all the way. The next day a profile about the Draft Clark movement based on the Meetup appeared in the Washington Post. I was invited to have dinner with DWC.com leaders.

Soon after I began volunteering with DraftWesleyClark.com. Along with Kim Cogle I led a group of about 20 volunteers in distributing literature twice weekly at Metro stops in Washington, DC. Out of that original group of volunteers, several people ended up working on the Clark '04 field staff or ended up "maxing out" as donors. It was great fun working with DWC.com. Almost every time that I led a "street team" around Washington, we ran into friends of Wes Clark or major media people. Overall, we had a great response.

The Meetup group in Washington, DC was growing at a rapid rate. The September 2003 Meetup was so crowded that some were turned away from our 75-person capacity second floor bar room. About ten days later Wes Clark took the suspense out of the "draft" and announced his candidacy. By this time the mainstays at DWC.com had moved to Little Rock, and on their way out the door, they asked me to lead the DC Meetup group and grassroots organizing.

The next month was sort of a blur as the Meetup group swelled to almost 400 attendees at 6 locations, each requiring a new organizer, whom I recruited & trained. My phone was literally ringing off the hook (at first, many assumed that the national Clark HQ was in Washington, not Little Rock). We built a local website and e-mail list. We organized a fundraiser, headlined by a very loud band and Reps. Rahm Emmanuel, Gene Taylor and Betty McCollum, that brought in over $20,000, and our Students for Clark groups at 5 Colleges were organized, mostly from the bottom up. On Oct. 9 we organized (with the invaluable help of Brent Blackaby in the LR HQ) the "Take the Hill" project. This involved organizing 40 volunteers (on a weekday) to visit Democratic Congressional Offices laden with Clark Bars and invitations to a meeting with General Clark late in the afternoon. Over 60 Members of Congress attended.

Many others greeted Gen. Clark that day including his ex-aide from NATO & Southern Command, House Armed Services Committee staffer Eric Massa. The next day Republican operatives noticed a newspaper picture snapped as Eric shook hands with his ex-boss. An enraged GOP congressman fired Eric, simply for greeting Gen. Clark. Eric hit the campaign trail and has been on it virtually ever since.

During the Clark campaign the focus was never on the DC region, though a major push was made in Virginia in the final weeks. Democratic Party officials persuaded the Clark Campaign to withdraw from the early DC primary (which violated party rules since New Hampshire is reserved for the first primary). Our role in DC was to support fundraising efforts, to encourage volunteers to work in the early primary states -- New Hampshire, Delaware and South Carolina, and to make sure we complied with the sometimes complicated rules for selecting delegates in DC, MD and VA -- we needed to lay the groundwork if Clark had done well in New Hampshire and on "Super Tuesday". Led by Chris Ambrose, Northern Virginia developed an especially strong grassroots campaign, collecting 10,000 signatures, all from volunteers, to qualify for the ballot.

[Note: See Jason McIntosh’s story here for more on the petition drive in Virginia.]] NOVA also ran an extremely successful phone bank. Over 140 volunteers, ranging in age from 17 to 83, traveled to New Hampshire from the DC region.

There were several "high donor" fundraising events in the DC region. The Clark Campaign implemented some innovative techniques to involve grassroots supporters in fundraising—including house parties, and we conducted a seminar with professional fundraisers about grassroots fundraising with Clark supports who had never done any fundraising before.

In DC we also won the "Zip Drive." This was a contest conducted on the national Clark '04 website. The idea was to reward the Clark supporters who had the highest number of donors over a six-week period (not necessarily the highest dollar amount) in their respective zip codes. Thanks to special "Zip Drive" parties and other grass roots exhortations, DC Zip Code 20009 won the competition with over 80 new donors recruited. The reward was a special reception with Gen. Clark in early 2005.

DC-area Clarkies continue to stay in touch via an events newsletter and at the General's speaking engagements in the region. Wes Clark was the first national figure to endorse Jim Webb for Senate. Webb entered the race partly because of the efforts of Virginian and Draft Clark leader Lowell Feld, who later co-founded RaisingKaine com, which has become the leading political blog in Virginia, and draftjameswebb.com. In November 2006, DC area Clark supporters hope to reunite at Jim Webb's victory party!

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Howard Park has an internet based used book business and is a consultant on new media and grassroots organizing. Still an activist, Howard have been among the earliest and most avid supporters of both Eric Massa and Jim Webb.