Emboldened Democrats set sights on White House

Friday, February 2nd 2007, 9:57 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (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.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd kicked off two days of speeches by the 2008 candidates before the Democratic National Committee by pleading for a chance to be heard in a race that includes stars Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Dodd offered a rousing promise to reverse President 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 non-binding 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 non-binding 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.