>Can you outline your previous political experience?

SUSAN PUTNEY: I have zero political experience.  I have never been involved in politics except to shake Dick Gephardt's hand in '88 and to make a few phone calls for Al Gore in '00 night before the general election.  I am a businesswoman with a full time job.  I only work on this campaign in the evening, weekends and holidays.
 
 

>What's the first campaign you ever worked on in any capacity?

SUSAN PUTNEY: This one!!  I don't count making a dozen calls for Al Gore in '00 as working on a campaign!  Like most individuals who have come to this movement, I have no political experience.  I saw General Clark on CNN during the war and recognized how knowledgable and articulate he was.  I started researching his background online and found the movement and signed on in mid April.  Many many people in this movement (more than 4000 are involved with meet ups across the country and tens of thousands are involved in other capacities across country) have no political experience.  We are just afraid of the direction our country is moving and feel we need to make a change.  And more importantly, we want to back a man who can win the Presidency.  We believe Wesley Clark can not only win the nomination, but can win the Presidency.
 
 

>Can you describe when you went from interest in Gen. Clark to actively working on the Draft effort?

SUSAN PUTNEY: After all the research, I was watching people on CNN and analysts talking about how dissatisfied voters were with the current candidates and didn't believe there was one candidate who embodied all the positive attributes of each of those currently announced.  I believe Wesley Clark has the right stuff.  As soon as I found the movement online, I signed on and became very proactive quickly in my spare time.
 

>There are after all nine Democrats trooping around the state; did none of them interest you?

SUSAN PUTNEY: No.  None of them seemed to be able to go the distance in win.  I believed one or two of them could win the nomination but would ultimately lose to George Bush.  I thought each of the candidates had positives and negatives.  None of them had the "whole package" of attributes I thought were necesssary to win and none of them had expressed views similar to mine on nearly every issue.  General Clark did.
 
 

>Have you met Gen. Clark?

SUSAN PUTNEY: Just once on May 12 when I presented him with 1000 letters from supporters urging him to run.  Since then, I have aligned with Draft Clark 2004 which is now a PAC, and as such, we are not allowed to have any contact with the General.
 
 

>What have you accomplished thus far?

SUSAN PUTNEY: We have more than 4000 people registered through meet ups (up from 49 people and 3 cities last month) and more than 120 cities, we have collected names and supporters through an extensive database.  We have opened offices in NH and hope to shortly in additional key primary and caucus states, we have individuals working on Draft Clark 2004 with significant campaign experience (not me) so we have focused on 4 key elements:

1.  Building a volunteer network of supporters nationwide in every state
2.  Raising money (we formed a PAC at the end of last quarter.  Our focus this quarter is raising money to expand our operation).
3.  Lobbying key political figures nationally to keep them neutral or to have them endorse General Clark if and when he announces his candidacy
4.  Opening campaign offices in key primary and caucus states.

These are our 4 primary goals of the Draft Clark 2004 movement.