10 little Democrats

National | POLITICS: Clark's late entrance shakes up a Democratic race that lacked star power | Bob Jones

And then there were 10. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark elbowed his way into a packed presidential field on Sept. 17, vowing to "bring people together in the great tradition of the Democratic Party."

In his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., before a small crowd that seemed dwarfed by the national media presence, Mr. Clark blasted the Bush administration for its handling of both foreign policy and the economy. The president's economic policies, he said, "have cost us more jobs than our economy has had the energy to create," while "more than 100,000 American troops are fighting abroad and once again Americans are concerned about their civil liberties."

The long-awaited announcement—surely one of the worst-kept political secrets of the year—threatened to re-write the Democrats' primary-season script. The tall, telegenic general looks like a president out of Central Casting, yet he's never played any political role in his life. That may be more of a help than a hindrance: After months of making nice, the nine other contenders appeared poised to take off the kid gloves and start attacking voting records, especially that of the front-runner, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. With no political record to beat up on, Mr. Clark may be at least temporarily immune to the bloodletting that appears imminent.