The South Carolina primary is still three-and-a-half months away, but if Wesley Clark ends up winning there, we may be able to trace his success to Friday afternoon.
As I mentioned last week, Clark was one of six Dem candidates to make quick schedule adjustments to appear at the annual convention of the South Carolina NAACP. Every candidate except Dean and Kerry agreed to appear.
Then Clark got lucky. Edwards, Gephardt, and Braun had plane problems out west and couldn’t make it to the convention it time. Lieberman made it to the event, but left early to observe the Sabbath, and did not address the convention.
That left Clark to share the stage with Sharpton and Kucinich — for a while. For some reason, those two had to leave early, which left Clark as the only candidate on the stage for the last half-hour of the candidate “forum.”
As a result, Clark was effectively able to host an exclusive, impromptu Town Hall-style meeting with the entire convention. I wasn’t there, but an AP report on the event said Clark’s comments were frequently “interrupted by applause.”
According to a poll released two weeks ago, Clark is already running second in South Carolina, behind Edwards, but ahead of Dean and Kerry, both of whom have been campaigning hard in the state for months. (Kerry kicked off his campaign in South Carolina and Dean started running TV ads in the state two months ago.)
Clark’s attendance at the NAACP event may prove to be very beneficial. Historically, more than half the ballots cast in the South Carolina primary are cast by African Americans. The fact that Clark was able to impress the state’s NAACP when having the stage to himself may pay huge dividends down the road.