10 miles square: all the General's Men Wesley Clark's disappointed army in Washington.

• Author: Larson, Christina

On the night of the New Hampshire primaries, Howard Park, the Clark campaign's D.C. grassroots coordinator, pulled up a stool to the counter of the Grand Siren bar in Washington and ordered a pint. A former lobbyist, turned bookseller in his early 40s, he was wearing a navy sports jacket with a pin that read 'All Patriot, No Act" over a "Draft Clark" t-shirt and slightly rumpled khakis. It was just past 7pm, an hour before the polls would close in the Granite State, but exit polls predicting the night's outcome had been on the Web all day. Though Clark would remain in the race for two weeks yet, Park's hopes had already begun to dim. He tucked his tennis shoes under one rung of the bar stool and sat very still.

"I always thought we were going to get a lot of the McCain voters in New Hampshire," he said. "It looks like I was wrong."

A young man in a grey sweater vest who had just arrived at that night's gathering" of Clark supporters bounced up then to ask, "Have we heard anything yet? Any poll results?"

"Yeah, we've heard a few?."

Not taking his cue from the tone of Park's voice, the second man repeated the question. "So how's it looking.

Park shook his head. "Third or fourth."

For much of the Democratic primary season, it was an article of faith that if you were young, professional, liberal, lived in a big city, and had tuned in to the race before New Year's Day, you probably backed Howard Dean. In Washington, D.C., however, much of that demographic, like Park, gravitated straight to Wesley Clark. Months before "the general," as his supporters called him, actually entered the race, many of the young Democrats populating Washington's law firms, think tanks, and legislative offices were abuzz with talk of the former NATO commander. The "Draft Clark" movement, which collected pledge donations and sponsored TV ads urging the general to run, was launched here last March. When Clark announced his candidacy in September, armies of Washingtonians called the Aa'kansas headquarters--or drove to Little Rock--looking for ways to join the campaign. In November, the Clark campaign found that the most new donations nationwide had come from the 20009 ZIP code--which includes the D.C. neighborhoods of Adams-Morgan and DuPont Circle, home to denizens of urbane young professionals.

To many of his idealistic but politically savvy supporters, the logic of the general's campaign had seemed perfect. Their candidate was the combo platter, with John Kerry's good...