Washington - Vying for support in an anti-war party, the Democratic presidential candidates are with each passing week embracing new and tougher measures to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, adopting ideas they once shunned.

In June, Barack Obama voted against a deadline for withdrawal, saying an "arbitrary" date could make things worse, "plunging Iraq into an even deeper and, perhaps, irreparable crisis."

But a few weeks ago, the Illinois senator proposed a withdrawal date (March 2008), saying, "Too many lives have been lost, and too many billions have been spent."

Hillary Rodham Clinton, a longtime critic of timetables, now says troop reductions should start within 90 days.

John Edwards suggested this month that Congress should reduce funding for the war to force the administration to start withdrawing troops.

And Delaware Sen. Joe Biden is crafting a bill that would reportedly revoke the 2002 authorization for force in Iraq in favor of a narrower military mission and withdrawal of combat forces by early next year...

Steve Clemons of the non-partisan [New America Foundation] said it was noteworthy that, while Democratic candidates are churning out a variety of sometimes novel ideas for reshaping U.S. policy, most of them are still shying away from "get out now."

"It's an interesting thing that they're not going all the way," said Clemons, who also writes The Washington Note blog. "They all have a bit of a chip on their shoulder that Americans don't think Democrats can be trusted to manage their security, and all of them are running scared on that..."

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