Centerfield

The Independent's Choice

Independents for Dean has a list of the open primary states in which independents can vote in the Democratic primary. I'm not sure which of the current 9 Democrats is most appealing to independents. If Clark runs, I believe he would be the greatest beneficiary of open primaries, attracting the same sort of people who voted for John McCain.

This article in the Boston Globe has an explanation of why there are two "draft Clark" organizations.

This summer, two branches of the movement, disagreeing on how to proceed, split. Draft Wesley Clark, run by Margulies and his brother-in-law, John Hlinko, has concentrated on publicity and fund-raising drives. They raised more than $1,000 by auctioning a "dinner for four" on eBay, featured Army MREs and Clark Bars, and commissioned a Zogby poll that did a "blind bio" comparison, in which Clark's profile beat Bush's, 49 percent to 40 percent.

Draft Clark 2004, meanwhile, has opened field offices in Little Rock and Dover, collected a string of Democratic political veterans -- including some Clinton-Gore and Democratic National Committee alumni -- and developed 180 nascent field operations in 50 states. The idea, Putney said, was to "build a structure that was ready to fund-raise when the time was right. We're turning over an organization; he will not be starting from ground zero."