Both men saw action during the Vietnam War. Both were wounded in combat. Both received the Silver Star.
And in the fight to win the New Hampshire primary, these two, the only military veterans among the seven remaining Democratic presidential candidates, have a new battle, this time with one another.
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and retired Gen. Wesley Clark are competing for the hearts of veterans–as well as their votes–as they barnstorm the state.
They share the same outrage toward President Bush for his cuts in veterans’ benefits and his reduction in combat pay for active military personnel. But there the similarities end.
Kerry has highlighted his military service in a way that has humanized him before large crowds of voters. Clark, on the other hand, would rather not talk about a war that sent him home on a stretcher, shot four times in one day.
With Tuesday’s primary approaching, the question is whether a four-star decorated general will hold the same appeal as a heroic lieutenant turned eloquent anti-war protester.
“Most veterans are not generals,” said William Shaheen, Kerry’s state chairman. “Most veterans don’t identify with the general. They identify with the junior officer.”
Furthermore, he said, Kerry has fought for increased veterans spending and for improving veterans’ programs during his 19 years in the Senate.
Countered Eric Massa, Clark’s veterans coordinator: “Gen. Clark has spent his life looking after the interests of soldiers, sailors and Marines of all ranks. For someone to characterize that in any other way is pure politics.”
Courting 61,000 voters
Of the 135,500 veterans in New Hampshire, about 98,000 are registered to vote and about 61,000 of those are Democrats or independents, according to campaign officials. In a race where Secretary of State Bill Gardner expects about 184,000 residents to cast a ballot in the Democratic primary, the veterans could be a crucial voting bloc.
That was the case for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a prisoner of war during most of the fighting in Southeast Asia, who won a landslide victory over Bush during the state’s primary in 2000.
“They are a voting bloc in the sense that a veteran background of John McCain, John Kerry and maybe Gen. Clark will get you in the front door to tell your story and your vision,” said John Weaver, McCain’s former political director. “That’s the only in you have as compared to the other candidates, that you have a shared experience.”
Kerry has certainly tried to take advantage of that connection.
At campaign events, his former crewmates on the Navy gunboat he commanded along the Mekong Delta have been a powerful presence beside him. In Iowa recently, he was reunited with Jim Rassmann, a former crewmate who offered an emotional testament to Kerry’s courage in combat. He said an injured Kerry guided their boat back into an ambush and saved his life by pulling him out of the water.
Kerry has embraced the heartfelt testimonials while downplaying the notion that he was a hero.
“Heroes are the ones whose names are on the wall, and those who came back are just lucky,” he said Friday in reference to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
On the campaign trail, when he meets a Vietnam veteran, Kerry invariably says, “Welcome back, brother!”
Poles apart in war pitch
The Kerry campaign is using veterans to call fellow veterans to drum up support.
“Can I ask for your support Tuesday for John and the veterans’ issues he will bring to the forefront as president?” the pitch reads. “He certainly had displayed courage and leadership on the battlefield when he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.”
Dave Benoit, a campaign volunteer and former Marine who served in the Vietnam War, said some veterans have told him that they are supporting Clark. Benoit tells them that Kerry has experience dealing with veterans’ issues in Washington.
While the Kerry campaign has emphasized the senator’s combat experience, Clark barely mentions his time in the Southeast Asia war zone.
During a visit to the VFW Post in Portsmouth on Wednesday, he uttered just two sentences to preface his unhappiness with Bush’s treatment of veterans.
“I fought in Vietnam, I came home on a stretcher,” Clark said. “My son was born while I was away and I didn’t see him until he was 4 months old when I got home.”
Clark was on patrol in a village north of Saigon when he felt a sting in his right hand. Then bullets hit his shoulder, leg and buttocks. Though bleeding badly, Clark told his platoon to strike back, fending off the enemy. He earned a Purple Heart for his wounds and a Silver Star for valor.
Aides to Clark said they had to talk him into revealing that he had been shot in combat for his first biographical television ad introducing him to the voters of New Hampshire.
“He feels like getting wounded is not something to be proud of,” said Matt Bennett, Clark’s communications director. “He just doesn’t like to talk about that stuff.”
Unlike Kerry, there are few personal testimonials about Clark’s courage in the battlefield. When introductions are made, they are usually about his leadership skills. Clark prefers to talk about patriotism and values and to reserve his bullets for Bush.
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Clark also has veterans calling other veterans to tout his candidacy, and he frequently visits VFW halls and American Legion posts.
Aiming at Bush
In their speeches, both candidates regularly pounce on Bush for donning a flight suit last spring while visiting an aircraft carrier to declare success in Iraq.
“When we dress up in military attire, we don’t have to go out and rent a flight suit,” Clark told the small group of veterans gathered in Portsmouth. “Because when you actually fight a war, they let you keep the uniform.”
When Kerry talks to voters, he likes to say, “I know something about aircraft carriers for real.”
Still, with both candidates touting their military experience and command of foreign affairs as an asset in challenging Bush, there is some tension between the two camps.
Last week on CNN, Clark said he outranked Kerry when former senator Bob Dole joked that “politically, you just became a colonel instead of a general,” following Kerry’s victory in the Iowa caucuses. Clark noted he stuck with the Army after his Vietnam service.
At the American Legion post in Manchester, Korean War veteran Joseph Belanger said he would choose between Kerry and Clark “when I enter that voting booth.”
“They fulfilled their commitment,” said Belanger, 73. “They didn’t go to Canada or go to school so they wouldn’t have to go in the military.
“You have got to be in the military to understand what is taking place in Iraq,” he added.
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Clark and Kerry battle for veterans’ votes
WESLEY CLARK
Age 59, born in Chicago, grew up in Little Rock, Ark.
EDUCATION
West Point, first in the graduating class of 1966, made famous in the book “The Long Gray Line” by Rick Atkinson
Rhodes scholar; graduated from Oxford in 1968 with a master’s degree
MILITARY SERVICE
1969-70: Volunteered for combat duty in South Vietnam and was wounded four times
1976-89: Command posts in several foreign locations; directed the Battle Command Training Program
1996-97: Head of the U.S. Southern Command in Panama
1997-May 2000: As a four-star general, commanded NATO forces in Europe during the Clinton administration and directed military response to halt Serb forces in Kosovo
Honors: Purple Heart, Silver Star and Bronze Star
POLITICAL CAREER
Announced his candidacy for Democratic presidential nomination in late 2003
JOHN KERRY
Age 60, born in Colorado, grew up in Massachusetts
EDUCATION
– Yale University, graduating class of 1966
– Boston College, law degree 1976
MILITARY SERVICE
– Volunteered for two tours of duty during the Vietnam War
– Officer aboard a Navy patrol boat
– Upon return to U.S., became a high-profile war protester
Honors: Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts
POLITICAL CAREER
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– 1983: began a 2-year term as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts
– Currently serving fourth term as U.S. senator
Sources: Staff reporting, Clark campaign, Kerry campaign
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