Dean - Clark is Chief Rival For Nomination

Clark is not expected to overcome Dean in the first two key nominating contests — Clark is not competing in Iowa and is trailing Dean by double-digits in New Hampshire polls. But Clark could be a strong contender when the race moves to other parts of the country.

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll last week put Clark, a retired Army general, in a statistical tie nationally with Dean, a former Vermont governor, when the margin of error was taken into account. And Clark is the only Democratic candidate to come close to Dean's fund-raising in the last quarter — more than $14 million for Dean and more than $10 million for Clark, according to their campaigns.