CHARLESTON, S.C. - Retired Gen. Wesley Clark stood amid the white-turreted buildings of The Citadel on Monday calling for a new spirit of patriotism as he brought his fledgling presidential campaign to the state with the South's first Democratic primary.

"We have got to have a new kind of patriotism that recognizes that, in times of war or peace, democracy requires dialogue, disagreement and the courage to speak out," Clark told a crowd of about 250 people gathered on the parade ground of the state military college.

Those who voice disagreement about the way things are going "should not be condemned, but praised," said Clark, standing in front of flags and two howitzers. Bugles sounded in the distance as Clark began speaking and about 100 of those in the audience were gray-clad cadets.

"This country was built on the concept of democratic dialogue and resolving disputes through open discussion, not through back-room intimidation," Clark said.

Clark announced last week he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination. It was his first visit as a candidate to South Carolina, which holds its first-in-the-South Democratic primary Feb. 3.

Clark was not formally invited by the military college, but by Phil Lader, a visiting professor who served ambassador to Great Britain during the Clinton administration. The campaign had to pay the school for renting equipment and space, said college spokeswoman Charlene Gunnells.

Clark, a retired Army general, said the nation needs "a patriotism that looks toward the future with optimism, with hope, with confidence, with generosity."

He gave few details of his planned domestic agenda, but said "we're going to have to invest in America - investing in the men and women and children of America."

In foreign policy, he said, America must use force only in the end and "never because it's easy, never because it's expedient, never because it just feels right."

"If you're in a struggle to change people's minds, it's real hard to change people's minds when you are dropping bombs on them and shooting them," Clark said. "There has got to be a better way. We're going to use force, but only as a last resort."

Later, a cadet asked Clark if those in the military should be allowed to express their patriotism by objecting to the way things are going.

"You can vote, but you can't have complaining and grumbling about the mission," Clark responded. "You have to do the job, focus on the job and support your chain of command, and that goes all the way up to the commander in chief. You don't want to politicize the military. It doesn't belong to either political party."

Trevor Miller, a junior cadet from Fairbanks, Alaska, said Clark's military service should appeal to voters but wasn't sure how he might fare with voters in a conservative state.

"As far as South Carolina goes, I don't know how he's going to do here," Miller said. "But the Democrats are definitely lucky they've got him."

Clark is a mainstream candidate, said Robert Crout, 57, a retired college history professor from Charleston.

"That's what Southern Democrats have been looking for for a long time," Crout said. "Every time the Democratic Party nominates a mainstream Democrat, that person wins the presidency."

If Clark doesn't get the nomination in the 10-way Democratic race "I'm afraid we're going to get stuck with the same-old same-old," said Mike Forbes, 34, a software analyst from North Charleston.

"He is the first candidate the Democratic Party has had since Johnson who is able to look at an honest military record and not come out as against the military, being the retired general he is," Forbes said.