Clark heads poll of Democrat hopefuls

Wesley Clark, the retired general turned political candidate, has bounced right to the top of the latest poll of Democratic presidential hopefuls, indicating just how much excitement his late entry has generated.

A poll published in today's issue of Newsweek magazine gave General Clark 14 per cent, with Howard Dean, hitherto the front-runner, and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut each on 12 per cent and Senator John Kerry on 10 per cent. The other six all polled in single figures.

The hope of Democratic Party leaders, spooked by the prospect of Mr Dean winning the nomination on a platform too far to the left to defeat President Bush, is that General Clark's unimpeachable knowledge of military affairs will give him the authority to undermine the administration's policies in Iraq. They see him as an anti-war candidate voters can support without worrying that national security might somehow be compromised.

The poll also showed him performing better than any of his rivals in a hypothetical stand-off with the president. A Bush-Clark contest would, it said, result in a 47 per cent to 43 per cent victory for the President. Mr Bush would win 48 per cent to 43 against Mr Kerry, and 52 per cent to 38 against Mr Dean although it is worth bearing in mind that those figures probably have more to do with Mr Bush's slumping popularity than anything else at theis stage. The Newsweek poll showed growing disapproval with the administration's handling of Iraq, and a big thumbs-down on its economic policies.

But how the polls react to General Clark's uncertain first encounter with political reporters ­ which came too late for Newsweek but which undermined many of the claims that he was a forceful anti-war and anti-Bush voice ­ remains to be seen. In Thursday's session, the retired general wobbled all over the place on the issue of just how anti-war he was and had to call to his press aide Mary Jacoby for help in clarifying his position.