How to run for President in 2008—don’t tell anyone you're running for President in 2008.

As of today, there are grassroots campaigns to draft Al Gore, Wesley Clark, Russ Feingold, Mark Warner, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul. None of them have said that they are running. Meanwhile, Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich can't get a glass of water in an IHOP, and Tom Vilsack's attempt to win the White House was as successful as Barbaro's attempt to win the Preakness Stakes. The conclusion is that in order to rally your potential voters, your best bet is to declare that you aren’t a candidate.

Al Gore has already said—repeatedly—that he has no intention of running in 2008, but his supporters continue to debate his verb conjugations and consult their Ouija boards and Magic 8-balls, and the result is always “reply hazy, try again.” We will probably see the inner Gore more clearly after An Inconvenient Truth wins the Oscar for best documentary tomorrow night.

So let’s forget about Gore for the moment and talk about General Wesley Clark.

Clark’s political action committee, WesPAC, has launched a Web site, StopIranWar.com, on which General Clark makes an eloquent case for diplomacy rather than military action against Iran, and asks visitors to sign a petition to the President.

General Clark’s advice is sound, and the petition is totally pointless.

George W’s approval rating has gone from 90% to 31%, and Dick Cheney’s is around 29%. Throw in the margin of error and their approval ratings are about the same as Vladimir Putin’s. They are clearly not obsessed with public opinion, and they have no reason to be since neither is running for reelection.

It’s already obvious that most people think the Iraq war wasn’t worth it, most people think the troops should be withdrawn, and most people are against the “surge.” Moreover, CNN and CBS polls already show that a majority favor diplomacy over military action in Iran. Has any of this mattered? No, so is one more petition really likely to have any effect?

Of course not, and General Clark knows it. But as a potential candidate for President, Clark has an advantage—unlike Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd and John Edwards, he didn’t vote in favor of the 2002 Iraq Resolution, so he can’t be accused of flip-flopping. He doesn’t have to say he made a mistake.

So, assuming that General Clark has seen the polls, knows which way the wind is blowing, and knows that the Bush administration couldn’t care less about public opinion, why start a petition? There’s only one possible answer. Oh, you're way ahead of me.

Unfortunately, General Clark’s arrow is aimed at the wrong target. In these times, the deadliest arrow in the quiver is a checkbook. Don’t bother petitioning the President, General Clark, petition the senators on the appropriations committee.

(Here's the link to the Senate Appropriations Committee: http://appropriations.senate.gov/index.cfm)

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