Amateurs and professionalsA few weeks ago, TAP detailed the conflict in the Wesley Clark campaign between the draft Clark grassroots supporters and the professionals who are running the campaign. The supporters are claiming that the professionals are "destroying the parts of the draft movement that worked really well and they are transforming the draft movement into people who want to lick envelopes", while the professionals say the supporters don't understand the reality of running a presidential campaign. Now news comes today that Clark's campaign manager has resigned: Donnie Fowler (search), 35, told associates he was leaving over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign officials. Fowler also complained that the campaign's message and methods are focused too much on Washington, not key states, said two associates who spoke on condition of anonymity.Shouldn't the people who are running Clark's campaign know that Howard Dean became a frontrunner by capitalizing on grassroots support? If they are shut out of the Clark campaign, it would become, in the words of a draft Clark member, "the Kerry campaign with a better candidate." What the professionals probably don't realize is that while the draft Clark supporters are a small number, they can raise a lot of money and support for Clark and create a buzz which would otherwise be absent with a traditional campaign. Their presence also makes their candidate more attractive to voters, since they create an impression that Clark is not part of the Washington establishment. Maybe it will improve over time, but Clark's campaign has been less than impressive in its first month. |
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