Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a potential presidential candidate, said national Democrats had become defenders of the status quo while squandering an opportunity to use President Bush's Social Security proposals as a wedge to a broader debate on health care.

Vilsack was in his native Pittsburgh yesterday as the keynote speaker for a meeting of the American Institute of Architects. Later, in a wide-ranging interview with Post-Gazette reporters and editors, he was expansive in discussing the challenges facing national Democrats, but reticent about his own political future.

Vilsack, who plans to step down from the Iowa governor's office in 2006, was reported to have been among the finalists in the search for a running mate when Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry was the Democrats' presidential standard-bearer in 2004. While making no announcements, Vilksack did nothing yesterday to quash the frequent speculation that he may contend for the top spot on his party's ticket in 2008.

Vilsack said the Democrats' loss of control at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue can be attributed to three main failures:

The first, he said, is that Democratic candidates must convince the public that they will be as tough on national security issues as Republicans. "The Republicans have done a great job exploiting that gap," he said, arguing that his party had to recapture the perceptions of the post-World War II era, in which "there was no doubt that Democrats would keep you safe."

Vilsack said the party suffered from another perception gap, in that many voters see it as having lost its common touch. "When people think of Democrats, do they think of someone who can relate to their lives? I'm afraid what they think of is celebrity, is Hollywood, is something disconnected from [ordinary] life," he said.

On a policy level, the two-term governor said national Democrats would be better served by embracing the role of spurring change, not protecting the status quo. "When you are not in power, traditionally you are pounding the people who are in power and saying, 'Everything needs to be better, and everything needs to be improved. And we've got a better idea, we've got a new idea, we've got an improved idea.' "

Instead, he continued, "We seem to be the party of 'Gee, don't touch that program 'cause it's working pretty well; don't change that because it's been working for 40 years, don't monkey with that because its sacred.' "

On Social Security, Vilsack said Democrats in Washington were making a mistake in focusing on opposition to Bush rather than imposing their own definition on the debate over retirement and social safety nets.

Contending that the funding challenges of Social Security pale beside those of Medicare and health spending in general, he said: "Rather than saying, 'No, no, no, no, no'; rather than playing to one audience -- i.e, senior citizens -- we ought to be using this as a great opportunity to broaden the debate, to talk about something that is absolutely essential to the future of this country. ... If we don't get health care under control, we are not going to be competitive."

The 54-year-old governor reported that in recent months he has run two marathons but declined to be drawn into speculation about what other races might be in his future. He insisted that he was focused on the legislative agenda in Des Moines.

Pennsylvania's Gov. Ed Rendell, who introduced his Democratic colleague, was eager to speculate on Vilsack's future. He predicted to the audience of architects that they would see Vilsack frequently in the next four years and would soon be referring to him as "Pittsburgh's favorite son." Rendell later described the Iowan as "exactly the type of candidate we should be running -- someone who comes across as likable, someone from the middle of America."

Vilsack maintained that the only elections in his current plans will take place in 2006, when, he said, he looks forward to campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial candidates across the country. Such labor would give him valuable exposure beyond Iowa.

While Vilsack is well known to political professionals outside of his state, one recent poll of Democrats found him with the support of just 1 percent of those surveyed in a hypothetical match-up of potential Democratic presidential candidates. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton topped the list of potential candidates, with the support of 33 percent, while Kerry came in second, at 19 percent.