Des Moines, Iowa ? Rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination highlighted their differences and raised money Saturday, with the high-flying Howard Dean getting much of the fire and complaining of “gang tackling.”

Six of the nine candidates headed to the Iowa Democratic Party’s biggest annual fund-raising dinner, moderated by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. They were making their case to more than 7,500 activists in a state where precinct caucuses begin the presidential nominating season.

Clinton rejected arguments that Democrats had a second-rate field, saying they reminded her of what was said the year her husband won the presidency in 1992.

“Never forget pundits and polls don’t pick presidents, people pick presidents and that’s what’s going to happen,” she said to cheers.

Herself the center of political speculation, Clinton gave the field this cycle her seal of approval, saying she’ll be backing the nominee. “The candidates we have in this campaign are … the most accomplished, in terms of public service, that we’ve had since 1960,” she said. “One of them will be successful.”

She also argued that “America is ready for a change, and America is ready for a Democratic president again.”

Throughout the day, the politicians rallied, gave speeches and paraded through the streets. It was part political drama, part theater.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry took to the ice for a hockey game with firefighters, declaring he was “fighting straight ahead right at it.”

“What’s at stake in this race is leadership, someone who can beat George Bush,” Kerry said.

Democratic presidential hopeful former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean waves with supporters as he arrives at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson Jackson dinner Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.

For his part, Dean said he never anticipated the surge that sent him to the top tier of the Democratic field.

“I never expected to be in this position when I entered this campaign,” the former Vermont governor said. “I thought I’d be trying to come from behind in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

North Carolina Sen. John Edwards warned Democrats against becoming a party of anger, a trait often associated with Dean, a former governor of Vermont.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts skates with the puck while playing in a hockey game with a team of firefighters Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.

“If all we are in 2004 is a party of anger, we can’t win,” Edwards said in prepared remarks. “I’m the only person up here who hasn’t spent most of his adult life in politics.”

Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri said he was focusing on his “big, bold ideas” and worked to shore up his backing with organized labor, staging a big rally with five international union presidents at his side.

“I have differences with some of the other candidates on trade, on health care and on Medicare and I have talked about some of those in the past,” said Gephardt. “Tonight I am going to stay to the themes that I have been on, that I can beat George Bush, why he must be replaced and the big ideas I have.”