WASHINGTON — In the memorable political ad, the White House telephone rings at 3 a.m. But at retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste's office, the phone has been ringing at all hours, for months.
The calls have been coming from the campaigns of presidential candidates, which are scrambling to add him to their lists of prominent supporters in uniform.
Batiste, like others, has declined to sign on. For many of the officers, as well as the Pentagon, which likes to stay out of political campaigns, the hunt for military endorsements has become a bit awkward.
Endorsements from retired generals and admirals have been a mainstay of presidential campaigns for years, but with the nation at war and a decorated hero as the presumptive Republican nominee, rarely have Democrats been more desperate for military credibility. Retired military officers have become as prized as governors or senators for their endorsement value.
"On the Democratic side you have two candidates who do not have military experience or direct experience in managing national security or military affairs," said Stephen Flanagan, director of the International Security Program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington public-policy organization. "And this has become a little more urgent running against a war hero."
The issue is especially urgent for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who was stunned by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent campaign ad suggesting that her experience would count in an international crisis that rouses the president in the middle of the night.
Monday, Obama brought out a trio of his "gets" -- three former civilian service secretaries -- to vouch for him.
The Obama campaign has been moving quickly to try to close something of a generals-gap with Clinton. Polls indicate that Clinton is perceived as better equipped to deal with the threat of terrorism.
Clinton has accumulated a list of 28 top officers endorsing her, headed by leading generals from her husband's administration. They include two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Hugh Shelton and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, as well as Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who led the war in Kosovo and has become a fixture on the campaign trail.
The Obama campaign has peppered a list of "national security experts" with the names of nine admirals and generals. Among Obama's military backers are two prominent critics of the Bush administration's plan for military commission trials of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison, Adms. Donald J. Guter and John D. Hutson, top former Navy lawyers.
