Presidential candidate Christopher Dodd's supporters thumped inflatable thundersticks bearing his name. Hillary Clinton's supporters waved cardboard fans emblazoned with the motto: "I'm a Hillary Fan." Volunteers for Katrina Swett's Senate campaign scooped ice cream cones in the sweltering afternoon.

Yesterday's midterm state Democratic Party convention was full of cheers and pageantry. Held seven months after the party achieved majorities in the House, Senate and Executive Council and won both of the state's congressional seats, state Democrats met to celebrate their successes and plan for the future. They were also offered an opportunity to shop for a presidential candidate. Five would-be nominees attended the event, held in the Rundlett Middle School gymnasium, to share condensed stump speeches and rally their supporters a day before their second debate.

The candidates' speeches were full of applause lines - Democratic delegates particularly liked calls to bring the troops

home and impeach Vice President Dick

Cheney - but also called for sacrifices.

Dodd, a senator from Connecticut, called for leadership that asked citizens to think about more than themselves. He joined the peace corps, he said, because a president asked him to do it. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said that individuals will need to conserve as part of his proposed energy policy. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio called for the formation of a "W.G.A.," an environmental jobs corps that will recruit citizens to retrofit houses and undertake other environmentally significant projects.

"The American people are looking for someone to guide us through what they know is going to be a very difficult decade," said Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

Each candidate spoke about the Iraq war, sharing a call to withdraw American troops, but differing in their strategies. Biden and Richardson suggested a diplomatic partitioning of the country. Kucinich demanded peace.

"Instead of talking about a surge of military power, how about a surge of diplomacy?" Dodd asked to loud applause from his thunderstick-wielding supporters.

Each candidate called for universal health care and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We should work not just to end global warring, but to end global warming as well," Kucinich said.

The crowd of several hundred Democratic delegates received all of the candidates warmly, giving each cheers and standing ovations as they hit applause lines in their speeches. Kucinich, whose poll numbers are at about 2 percent, perhaps rallied the most enthusiasm, drawing several sustained ovations from the crowd.

"I love Kucinich, but I don't think he has a chance," said Sirkka Holm, a delegate from Francestown, after the convention broke for lunch. She supports Richardson instead.

And she said so even before Richardson crashed the cafeteria lunch, shaking hands, posing for pictures, taking a seat at a lunch table and generally exasperating his campaign staff, who kept pointing him toward the door. He was slated to attend a campaign event in Iowa last night.

The three poll-leading candidates, Sens. Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former-senator John Edwards of North Carolina, did not make appearances yesterday despite their legions of sign-holding volunteers, who lined South Street in the morning hours before the convention began.

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