The 2004 presidential campaign of Wesley Clark, a retired U.S. Army general who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACE) from 1997 to 2000, officially began on September 17, 2003.

[4] However, after losing several crucial early primary states, Clark ended up dropping out of the race on February 11, 2004.

[5] Wesley Clark stated that he began to truly define his politics only after his military retirement in 2000 around the 2000 presidential election that would give George W. Bush the presidency.

Clark had a conversation with Condoleezza Rice, where she told him that the war in Kosovo would have never taken place under a Bush administration, as they adhered more to realpolitik.

[6] Clark met with a group of wealthy New York Democrats including Alan Patricof to tell them he was considering running for the presidency in the 2004 election.

[1] DraftWesleyClark signed up tens of thousands of volunteers, made 150 media appearances discussing Clark, and raised $1.5 million in pledges for his campaign.

[12] Clark announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential primary elections from Little Rock on September 17, 2003, months after the other candidates.

Once in the campaign, however, several volunteers established a network of connections with the media, and Clark began to explain his stances on a variety of issues.

Clark also proposed a global effort to strengthen American relations with other nations, reviewing the PATRIOT Act, and investing $100 billion in homeland security.

[18] Clark had testified before the House Committee on Armed Services on September 26, 2002[19] that while he supported the Iraq Resolution he believed the country should try other options before the more immediate war President Bush had been calling for at the time, and this testimony was later used during his presidential campaign to portray Clark as pro-war although FactCheck called this a "classic case of ripping quotes out of their full context in order to create a false picture.

Senator Joe Lieberman called Clark's party choice a matter of "political convenience, not conviction".

[7] On May 11, 2001, Clark also delivered a speech to the Pulaski County Republican Party in Arkansas saying he was "very glad we've got the great team in office, men like Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Paul O'Neill – people I know very well – our president George W.

[23] U.S. News & World Report ran a story two weeks later claiming Clark might be considered some form of political run as a Republican.

Finally, Clark's press secretary clarified his position as "you said you would have voted for the resolution as leverage for a UN-based solution."

[27] Clark was repeatedly portrayed as unsure on this critical issue by his opponents throughout the primary season, being forced to continue to clarify his position such as at the second primary debate when he said, "I think it's really embarrassing that a group of candidates up here are working on changing the leadership in this country and can't get their own story straight ...

[30][31] Several polls from September to November 2003 showed Clark leading the Democratic field of candidates or as a close second to Howard Dean.