Gen. Clark rallies N.Ky. Dems
September 24, 2006
BY PATRICK CROWLEY | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
WILDER – Retired Gen. Wes Clark, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, was in Campbell County on Sunday night trying to help turn a red state blue.
Clark, the former commander of NATO, was the featured speaker at Democratic Party rally that attracted a boisterous crowd of more than 200 to the Wilder Civic Center.
Drawing on his credentials as a military leader of 34 years, Clark criticized President Bush’s leadership and ability, saying the war in Iraq “is a war we didn’t need to fight.”
“But we’re in it now and we need real leadership,” Clark said. “The way we are going to get that leadership is in statehouse races, in congressional races, in Senate races all across this country. Democrats are going to turnout out like never before.
“Independents and Republicans are going to join with us to demand that we put people in office who love this country and what we stand for,” he said.
The rally was mainly on behalf of three Northern Kentucky Democrats running for Statehouse seats:
- Linda Klembara of Fort Thomas, who is running against Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Fort Thomas, in the 68th House District.
- Randy Blankenship of Erlanger, who is running against Republican Adam Koenig, also of Erlanger and a member of the Kenton County Fiscal Court, in the 69th District.
- David Ryan of Florence, who is running against Republican Sal Santoro of Florence in the 60th House District race.
All three spoke prior to Clark, and each mentioned the change they say voters want in Washington and Frankfort.
“The day of reckoning is coming,” said Ryan, a Methodist minister. “Those who have ability also have the responsibility to make change. We need change. And on Election Day we’ll get change.”
“We are in desperate need of representation,” Klembara said. “We’re not getting it with what we have now in Frankfort.”
Clark is in Kentucky for two days of campaigning on behalf of Democrats. Earlier in the day he appeared at a party rally in Frankfort.
Clark was accompanied to Wilder with congressional candidate Ken Lucas, House Speaker Jody Richards of Bowling Green and Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Lundergan.
Lucas struck a populist chord, playing to the party’s longtime connection with labor unions and blue-collar workers, many of whom have fled the Democrats for the GOP in recent years.
“The Democratic Party is the party of working folks,” said Lucas, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a first-term Republican from Boone County. “They are the ones who need the most help.”
Richards compared the three Statehouse candidates to three former Democratic lawmakers from Campbell County he served with in Frankfort – Jim Callahan of Wilder, Bill Donnermeyer of Bellevue and Terry Mann of Fort Thomas.
Richards promised the crowd that if Ryan, Klembara and Blankenship are elected he’ll give them choice committee assignments “so they can bring the most back to Northern Kentucky.”
Richards, however, did not mention specific committee assignments.
Clark, an Arkansas Democrat who unsuccessfully sought the party’s nomination in the 2004 presidential race, would not say if he is running for president in 2008.
“I came here to campaign for Democrats,” Clark said before the rally.
But Clark has formed a political action committee and has been making appearances on behalf of and raising money for Democrats across the country.
Clark said Democrats can carry a state like Kentucky, which Bush won in the last two presidential races, “because I think Democrats represent what people really want.”
“First of all, we’re a family party,” he said. “Second, we’re strong on national security. And third we got some real answers on not only the things that are hurting us abroad but also the things that can help us at home.”
Clark said he senses that voters want a change, more than he did two years ago during his presidential campaign.
“People today are more aware of the mistake in policies of the Bush administration in Iraq,” Clark said. “I think it’s harder to run on his coattails.”
Clark, party leaders and candidates from outside Northern Kentucky have stops planned Monday in Campbellsville, Hopkinsville, Paducah, Owensboro and Brandenburg.
