Charlie Pope, our Washington, D.C., correspondent, was at the Democratic National Convention. This is a rah-rah session for the party faithful.

Charlie just sent this nugget in:

"About a year ago, President Bush's approval rating stood at 40 percent, his party was in revolt, and the vice president had just shot somebody,'' Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd told a packed ballroom.

"Thanks to … the DNC and the American voters, President Bush now refers to those days as 'the good old days' in America."

UPDATE
Here's more from Pope. Look for his full report in Saturday's paper.

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Democrats staged the political equivalent of the Detroit Auto Show on Friday, trotting out six shiny new and –they hope – improved models for president that could carry the party to the White House in 2008.

One after another the new models, both well known and obscure, took the stage in a cavernous ballroom in downtown hotel during the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting, the first time the White House hopefuls have been together in the same place at the same time.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Sen. Barak Obama, the hot new sports car from Illinois, Gen. Wesley Clark, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, and finally, the expensive luxury model, Sen. Hilary Clinton all delivered remarks.

But Iraq was the issue that dominated and, to a large measure it united the candidates while dividing them. All are bitterly opposed to the war. All condemned President Bush for how he's handled it and all said Bush's plan to add 21,000 troops is a fatal miscalculation. But like the party itself, the candidates Friday offered varying responses for dealing with a complicated, expensive war that has lost public support.

"I want to be very clear about this. If I had been president in October of 2002, I would not have started this war,'' said Clinton, who was softly heckled by critics who remain angered by her 2002 vote to authorize the war.

"If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as president, I will!'' she said to roaring applause.

John Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina and John Kerry's running mate in 2004, called Democratic ambivalence on challenging Bush a "betrayal.''

"I believe it is a betrayal – a betrayal – for us to not speak out against the escalation of this war in Iraq,'' said Edwards, who in some polls is leading in Iowa, which will hold the first nominating caucus in January 2008.

"It is a betrayal for this president to send more American men and women to die in Iraq when he knows that this is not going to succeed.''

All down the line the candidates piled on Bush and denounced the war.
Kucinich said he would establish a "Department of Peace and Non-Violence'' to counteract the damage that Bush's policies have brought.

Kucinich called for an immediate end to the war – the same message he ran on in 2004. But it's now is being echoed by several other candidates in a stronger position to win the nomination.
Obama, who has emerged as a serious threat to Clinton, called for civility in politics, echoing the plea made by Republican Mike McGavick in the Washington state Senate race this fall.

"Let's have an honest debate about how to end this war in Iraq. As was mentioned, I was opposed to this invasion – publicly, frequently, before it began,'' Obama said.

"I thought it was a tragic mistake. But whether you were for it or against it then, we all have a responsibility now to put forth a plan that offers the best chance of ending the bloodshed and bringing the troops home,'' Obama said, while decline to offer specifics.

Clark, a retired four-star general, said he gets "angry'' when watching the war and its chaos unfold.
"I get a little bit because in America today, we have a president who mistakes stubbornness for strength and slogans for strategy,'' he said.

"I get angry with an administration that – by condoning torture, using rendition, and these secret detention camps, by creating a sense of callous disregard for the innocent lives lost in that conflict, and by taking us to an unnecessary war in the first place – has robbed our country of the legitimacy that is the birthright of every American, and the source of our greatest power.''

Yet in a blizzard of rhetorical sameness, Clinton and Obama offered one of the few contrasts.

Obama pleaded in lofty tones for candidates of all parties to take the high road.

"The campaigns shouldn't be about making each other look bad, they should be about figuring out how we can all do some good for this precious country of ours,'' he said. "That's our mission. And in this mission, our rivals won't be one another, and I would assert it won't even be the other party. It's going to be cynicism that we're fighting against.''