(Published November 2‚ 2003)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Presidential candidate Wesley Clark thinks all of his fellow Democrats should take a stand against the Confederate flag.

"The Confederate flag undermines the values that Americans care deeply about - equality, diversity and inclusion," Matt Bennett, the retired general's campaign spokesman, said Sunday. "The general strongly believes that every Democratic candidate needs to condemn the divisiveness represented by the Confederate flag."

The statement came after comments by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, also a Democratic presidential hopeful, that he wanted "to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

In a telephone interview quoted in Saturday's Des Moines Register, Dean said, "We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats."

Dean said Saturday that he was intending to encourage the return of Southern voters who have abandoned the Democrats for decades but are disaffected with Republicans.

The Confederate flag is a hot issue in South Carolina, where it flies on Statehouse grounds. In 2000, under pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other groups, the state Legislature removed the flag from the Capitol dome and House and Senate chambers.

The compromise that put the banner at the Confederate Soldier Monument satisfied some protesters, but the NAACP continues its boycott of the state because of the flag's prominent display.