Several polls from September to November 2003 showed Clark leading the Democratic field of candidates or as a close second to Howard Dean with the Gallup poll having him in first place in the presidential race at 20 % as late as October 2003 . The John Edwards campaign brought on Hugh Shelton — the general who had said Clark was made to leave the SACEUR post early due to " integrity and character issues " — as an advisor , a move that drew criticism from the Clark campaign . Since Dean consistently polled in the lead in the Iowa caucuses , Clark opted out of participating in the caucuses entirely to focus on later primaries instead . The 2004 Iowa caucuses marked a turning point in the campaign for the Democratic nomination , however , as front-runners Dean and Dick Gephardt garnered results far lower than expected , and John Kerry and John Edwards ' campaigns benefited in Clark 's absence . Clark performed reasonably well in later primaries , including a tie for third place with Edwards in the New Hampshire primary and a narrow victory in the Oklahoma primary over Edwards . However , he saw his third-place finishes in Tennessee and Virginia as signs that he had lost the South , a focus of his campaign . He withdrew from the race on February 11 , 2004 , and announced his endorsement of John Kerry at a rally in Madison , Wisconsin , on February 13 . Clark believed his opting out of the Iowa caucus was one of his campaign 's biggest mistakes , saying to one supporter the day before he withdrew from the race that " everything would have been different if we had been in Iowa . " Clark continued to speak in support of Kerry ( and the eventual Kerry/Edwards ticket ) throughout the remainder of the 2004 presidential campaign , including speaking at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on the final evening . He founded a political action committee , WesPAC , in April 2004 . Fox News Channel announced in June 2005 that they had signed General Clark as a military and foreign affairs analyst . He joined the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA as a senior fellow . A managing partner of the companies that support the Center , Ronald Burkle , described Clark 's position as " illuminat ing the center 's research " and " teaching the contemporary role of the United States in the international community "
2004 Democratic National Convention
2004 Democratic National Convention
Wesley Clark