US Senator John Kerry picked up the endorsement of General Wesley Clark on Friday at a rally where the two men highlighted their military service and national security credentials and struck hard at the White House.
On a day when President George W. Bush ordered the release of all his Vietnam-era National Guard files, Clark, a former supreme allied commander of NATO who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race this week, stood side by side with the senator, a decorated Navy lieutenant during the Vietnam War, at the armory building on the University of Wisconsin campus. The two clasped hands and raised their fists together.
"Sir!" Clark announced crisply, turning to face Kerry.
"Request permission to come aboard! The Army's here!" he said.
"This is the first time in my life," Kerry said later, smiling broadly, "that I've had the privilege of saying `Welcome aboard' to a four-star general."
Clark's endorsement gave Kerry new support as he hopes to push his most important remaining rivals -- Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont -- out of the Democratic race right after the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday.
"I ask you to join me in standing up for an American who has given truly outstanding service to his country in peace and in war," Clark said at the rally.
The joint appearance came a day after Bush's re-election campaign and the Republican Party commenced a series of attacks against Kerry, treating him as if he were already the Democratic nominee.
Ed Gillespie, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, in a speech on Thursday night, attacked Kerry's record on military and intelligence issues and predicted that Democrats would run "the dirtiest campaign in modern presidential politics."
At the same time, Bush's re-election campaign posted a video on its Web site accusing Kerry of being "unprincipled" and the tool of special interests.
Kerry and his newest supporter, Clark, struck back.
"President Bush hasn't led America, he's misled America," the general said, adding that he would do "everything I can to help when the Republican mean machine cranks up their attacks."
And earlier in the day, proclaiming himself a "fighter" in an interview with Don Imus, the radio talk show host, Kerry said, "These guys will want to try to do everything they can to change the subject."
He said the Bush campaign was trying to draw attention away from job losses, health care and education.
Kerry also denied to Imus -- and again later to reporters in Wisconsin -- a charge posted on Thursday on the Web site of the Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge that the senator had had an extramarital affair.
Kerry said: "There's nothing to report. So there's nothing to talk about. I'm not worried about it."
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