The Little Brown Reader

Clark apparently decided to run following an elaborate Internet-based draft movement that grew on its own, without much help from the candidate himself. The organization had established offices in all 50 states, run radio ads in New Hampshire and garnered nearly $1.6 million in pledges as of Tuesday afternoon, according to one of its organizers, John Hlinko.

"This was all accomplished for $50,000 to $60,000," said Hlinko, who helped found DraftWesleyClark.com, one of several organizations working over the past six months to press Clark into the race.

Phil Noble, founder of PoliticsOnline, a Web-based political consulting firm, said the movement to draft Clark, combined with the Net-based insurgent Democratic candidacy of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, illustrates how the rules of American politics are being rewritten in real time.