Nashville, Feb 07: Presidential candidate Wesley Clark
sharpened his attacks against his main Democratic opponents,
accusing front-runner John Kerry of turning his back on the south
and john Edwards of abandoning Veterans.
Clark, a former NATO commander, has spent the last three days in
Tennessee bashing Kerry and Edwards in his drive to win what could
be a close race in the state's Democratic primary on Tuesday.
By dissecting his opponents' senate voting records on tax cuts,
education, the Iraq war and spending on veterans, Clark hoped to win
over enough voters in Tennessee and neighboring Virginia to
establish a beachhead in the south. Virginia democrats also vote on
Tuesday for a nominee to challenge President George W. Bush in
November elections.
Aiming his strongest accusations against Edwards, a one-term
North Carolina senator, Clark said in a radio interview, ''When it
came to decide between special interests and veterans, senator Edwards
blinked and he didn't support our veterans when the going got
tough.''
Clark aides said the former NATO commander was referring to a
1999 senate vote by Edwards against closing some federal tax
loopholes to save revenues so that a range of domestic programs,
including veterans health care, could be fully funded.
Clark also accused Edwards of voting against spending an
additional 1.3 billion dollars for veterans in 1999 and another 650
million dollars for veterans health care in 2001.
At campaign events later yesterday, Clark softened his language.
Meeting with Knoxville community and religious leaders, Clark said
of his democratic opponents, ''I'm not attacking them. Any one of
them would make a lot better president'' than Bush.
Bureau Report
