Emboldened Dems have eye on White House

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Democrats energized by their takeover of Congress began a campaign to do the same with the presidency on Friday in the first public gathering of all the party's White House hopefuls.

Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) began his speech to members of the Democratic National Committee with a joke about how the contest feels a little like "American Idol" or "Survivor" reality shows. But he quickly tried to tap into what he said is a sober mood in the country weighed down by the Iraq war and concerns about health care and pensions.

He spoke softly and carried the crowd with his call for an honest debate on the issues.

"Democrats, this is not a game," Obama said. "This can't be about who digs up more skeletons on who, who makes the biggest slip-ups on the campaign trail. We owe it to the American people to do more than that. We owe them an election where voters are inspired."

Obama said every candidate should pledge to provide health care for all by the end of the next president's first term. He also repeatedly reminded the largely anti-war crowd that he was against the Iraq invasion from the beginning and said all candidates, no matter where they stood at the start, have an obligation to bring the troops home.

Other candidates tried to bring the crowd to its feet with sharp jabs at Bush and memorable lines. Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd asked for a chance to be heard in a race that includes stars Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He offered a rousing promise to reverse Bush's policies.

"Get the car out of the ditch, we aren't going to take fear for an answer any more in America," Dodd said, bringing the crowd of activists to its feet.

Dodd promised if elected he would bring troops out of Iraq, overturn Bush's torture legislation and "begin to restore America's leadership in the world." He said voters sent a clear message in November that they wanted change in Iraq when they elected Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and they deserve more than the nonbinding resolution being debated in the Senate.

"Frankly, I'm disappointed that we can't do more than send a meaningless message to the White House," Dodd said. "I don't think that spending a week debating a nonbinding resolution is the change that America voted for."

Four years ago, Howard Dean ignited the crowd with a fire-and-brimstone speech in which he pointedly appealed to partisans tired of a Democratic move to the middle by declaring he was from "the Democratic wing of the Democratic party."

Dean, now the chairman of the DNC, started the gathering by celebrating the party's reversal of fortune from minority to majority in Congress and governor's offices. "We are in charge again and we will really be in charge in 2008," Dean said.

Others scheduled to speak Friday included Clinton, Wesley Clark, 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Saturday's lineup of speakers included Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. Vilsack planned to position himself as the outsider in the crowd, highlighting Washington's failures on energy, health care and the budget while touting his accomplishments.

Vilsack was attempting to stoke the passions of the partisan crowd by comparing himself to the last Democratic president and implying his Capitol Hill rivals are part of the stay the course mentality that they have criticized the Bush administration for.

"Disclosing earmarks and passing toothless budget resolutions isn't real change; it's staying the course," Vilsack said, according to excerpts of his speech provided by his campaign. "Taking the tough steps needed to actually balance the budget is real change. That's what Bill Clinton did. And that's what we did in Iowa for eight years in a row, including during the Bush recession. And I'm the only candidate who can say that."

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070202/ap_on_el_pr/democrats2008 [link]