WASHINGTON – Former presidential candidate Wesley Clark (search) has decided to lend his support to John Kerry (search) in the senator's bid for the presidential nomination, one day after praising all three of the main candidates in the race, Democratic sources told Fox News on Thursday.
Newly-private citizen Clark quickly recovered from his retirement from the race on Wednesday and plans to be by Kerry's side before next Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin.
"General Clark is looking forward to going to Wisconsin to be with Senator Kerry" on Friday, said Clark spokesman Matt Bennett, who would not confirm the endorsement.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the retired Army general would make a formal endorsement (search) at a campaign stop in Wisconsin, which holds its primary Tuesday.
Kerry and Clark spoke Tuesday night after Kerry's big victories in Virginia and Tennessee, Southern states where Clark had hoped to do well but finished third in each.
Witnesses to Kerry's end of the conversation said it appeared from the one-sided conversation that Clark was making several conciliatory remarks to Kerry.
Clark officially quit on Wednesday at which time, he praised Kerry, John Edwards (search) and Howard Dean (search) for their campaigns, and said any of them would make a good Democratic candidate.
"They're good men, they're good Democrats and they're good patriots," Clark said. "Our country is well-served" by them.
In turn, Kerry praised Clark for his message and his campaign.
"He reminded Democrats of the importance of national security as we face a wartime president who has run a reckless foreign policy," Kerry said in a statement. "He will no doubt continue to contribute to the life of our party and our country. We look forward to working with him in the months ahead to defeat George Bush and bring change to America."
Clark, 59, and former Supreme Allied Commander (search) of NATO, entered the campaign last September after months of deliberation. He quickly earned financial support from several supporters of former President Bill Clinton, under whom Clark served.
Clark had hoped to build support for his campaign based on his strong national security credentials — he served in Vietnam and led the 1999 NATO war in Kosovo (search) — but his political inexperience demonstrated he was not quite ready for prime time.
He articulated diametrically-opposed positions on the war with Iraq within days of announcing his candidacy, for example, and was constantly refining his position on abortion.
Fox News' Catherine Loper and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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