Democratic field nervously eyes Clark

CNN -- Clark's background could prove to be an attractive alternative to Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War hero and favorite of many party leaders. Although Clark was raised in Arkansas, he was born in Chicago just like candidate Carol Moseley Braun. And even though Clark grew up a Baptist and converted to Catholicism, his father was Jewish like candidate Joe Lieberman.

The inevitable comparison for Clark is with former President Clinton, the Rhodes scholar who traveled from Arkansas to the White House. Political observers cite the dynamics of Democratic politics in 1991, when Clinton declared his long-shot candidacy, and this year.

Clinton saw a President Bush struggling to repair the economy after a war in Iraq. Clark is looking squarely at another President Bush dealing with the nation's financial woes and an unsettled postwar Iraq, said Art English, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

"He may be also seeing a situation where he's coming into the Democratic field late, but where expectations in some of the early primaries might not be high, particularly because of regional candidates," English said.