General Salutes ‘Clinton-Clark’ Ticket

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: On the same day that he was the only Democrat allowed to speak to members of the Democratic National Committee without making his 2008 intentions known, Gen. Wesley Clark raised speculation as to whether he is angling to be Sen. Hillary Clinton’s, D-N.Y., running mate.

"I’m a great admirer of Senator Clinton. I think she’s terrific," Clark told ABC News with a sly smile when asked if he shared a former aide’s assessment that "a Clinton-Clark ticket has a nice ring to it."

For a May 2005 story looking at the high-profile role that Clark was taking on behalf of Capitol Hill Democrats as a foreign policy spokesman and adviser, Chris Lehane, a former Clinton White House aide who advised Clark’s 2004 campaign, told Roll Call’s Chris Cillizza, "I’ve always thought a Clinton-Clark ticket had a nice ring to it."

When asked by ABC News on Friday if he would be entering the presidential race as a candidate, Clark replied, "I haven’t said that I’m not," but the retired four-star general declined to offer any further assurance that he would be establishing a presidential campaign committee the way all nine other Democrats who are speaking to the D.N.C.’s winter meeting have done.

Lehane is not the only Democrat to link Clinton and Clark.

Back in September of 2003, the New York Times reported that former President Clinton told a gathering of big campaign donors in Chappaqua, N.Y. that the Democratic Party has "two stars": his wife and Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.

Moments before talking to ABC News, Clark stopped himself before getting on an elevator at the Washington Hilton hotel where the D.N.C. winter meeting was taking place so that he could greet D.N.C. member and Clinton confidant Harold Ickes.

"I’ve got to say hello to Harold Ickes," said a beaming Clark.