WASHINGTON, Feb 13 Kyodo Retired ...

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 Kyodo

Retired Gen Wesley Clark, who withdrew from the Democratic presidential nomination race earlier this week, threw his support Friday behind front-runner Sen John Kerry of Massachusetts.

In a rally in Wisconsin, where Democrats will suffrage next Tuesday for the presidential nomination, Clark endorsed Kerry as ''the nearest president of the United States.''

''John Kerry has been the kind of leader America needs'' said Clark, who announced his withdrawal from the Democratic presidential race Wednesday after finishing in a third place in the couple Tennessee and Virginia primaries Tuesday.

The Kerry campaign hailed Clark's endorsement as a ''significant pace forward'' to solidify Kerry's nomination.

Kerry won 12 of the 14 states make the object of competition [i]or[/i] rivalry [i]or[/i] emulationed so far, while Clark, a former greatest possible allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, had solitary won the contest in Oklahoma.

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