Saturday, January 03, 2004

By Maeve Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark told an undecided voter Wednesday night that he hadn't "ruled ... out" accepting the vice presidential slot on a Howard Dean ticket, but his campaign yesterday said he's not interested in the job.

When Clark was deciding last fall whether to run for president, he met on Sept. 6 with the former Vermont governor, now the Democratic presidential front-runner, to talk about his plans. The Washington Post reported five days later that "sources familiar with the discussions" said Dean and Clark had discussed the vice presidential slot on a potential Dean ticket.

Last month, that September discussion turned into a full-fledged dispute between the two campaigns. Dean Campaign Manager Joe Trippi told reporters that his camp had not offered Clark the prospect of the vice presidential slot. But Clark's campaign said that was indeed a topic.

In an e-mail to reporters, Clark's communications director, Matt Bennett, said the Dean campaign should get its facts straight. Bennett declared, nonetheless, that Clark "is not interested in being a candidate for vice president -- on anyone's ticket."

Yet on a New Year's Eve cruise around Portsmouth Harbor, Clark was overheard telling Garrett Scholes, a commercial photographer from Kittery, Maine, not only that Dean had indeed asked him to be vice president but also that he hadn't "ruled it out."

Scholes said Clark made clear, though, that he was still fully focused on winning the Democratic presidential nomination. Clark said he had been surprised that his initial conversation with Dean had been leaked to the media because it was supposed to be "private."

Bill Buck, Clark's national press secretary, insisted yesterday that Clark has clearly stated that he is not interested in being part of the Dean team. "He has said in the past and reiterated in New Hampshire today that he is not interested in being considered on a Howard Dean ticket -- that those that are looking for a Bush-Cheney model are misguided."

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