MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa — Aiming to harness a growing tide of voter impatience with Washington politicians, Governor Vilsack of Iowa has kicked off what he acknowledges is a long-shot bid to win the White House in 2008.

“Our country needs a president who wants to make us more secure by confronting our problems. Our country today needs a president who will lead bold change and has the courage of his convictions. And I intend to be that president,” Mr. Vilsack, a Democrat, told a crowd of several hundred supporters gathered yesterday morning at a college gymnasium not far from his home.

While the field seeking the Democratic nomination may include nationally known figures, such as Senator Clinton, and subjects of press fascination, like Senator Obama of Illinois, Mr. Vilsack indicated he would not allow his relative obscurity to keep him from entering the fray.

“I have always been an underdog and a long shot,” the two-term governor said. “But I’ve always been inspired by the stories of ordinary citizens who worked hard, overcame adversity, and succeeded.”

In his 20-minute announcement address, Mr. Vilsack accused national leaders of being preoccupied with trivialities while grave problems with education, health care, and national security go unresolved.

“Let us stop the endless partisan debates. Let us stop the empty talk. Let’s have a campaign of serious thoughts about serious problems that our nation confronts,” the governor said. While Mr. Vilsack suggested a broader problem with the culture in Washington, he directed the brunt of his criticism at President Bush. “Today, we have in the White House a president whose first impulse is to divide and to conquer, who preys on our insecurities and fears for partisan gain, who has robbed us of the assets that have made this country great,” the governor said.

Mr. Vilsack’s aides were blunt about his intent to capitalize on his outsider status. Asked how the governor would differentiate himself from the field, a top Vilsack adviser told The New York Sun, “He’s the only guy who doesn’t have Washington on his résumé.”

One obvious challenge facing the governor is his lack of experience in military or foreign affairs. His supporters respond by noting that he has executive experience nearly all of the other Democratic prospects lack. Whether Americans will give Mr. Vilsack presidential props for managing a state with about a third of the population of New York City remains an open question.

Still, Mr. Vilsack’s backers insist he has a presidential air that can’t be captured on paper. “You can’t fill out a questionnaire that will tell people how you are going to do in a crisis,” a Vilsack adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

While the governor’s seriousness may be an asset, his speaking style is less than electric and he generally avoids the public displays of emotion indulged in by some politicians. Toward the end of his speech yesterday, he loosened up a bit. As the crowd chanted, “Go, Tom, go,” he shot back, “I’m going. You can depend on that.”

Mr. Vilsack also borrowed a few pages yesterday from President Clinton’s playbook. The Iowa governor struck a forward-looking tone, stressing the next generation and the need to prepare for “tomorrow.” He also recounted the story of a widow of a National Guard soldier killed in the Iraq war.

The prescription Mr. Vilsack offered for Iraq yesterday was general in nature and similar to that offered by other Democrats. “We must act and we must act now,” he said. “We must take troops out of harm’s way and say to the Iraqis, ‘It is your responsibility to protect your families and your community.'”

Aware of his lack of national security credentials, the governor is moving to establish himself as an expert on securing America by weaning the nation from foreign oil. One way to supplant that oil is with ethanol, made from corn grown in Iowa and elsewhere. A declaration of support for ethanol subsidies has long been a ticket of admission for candidates entering the Iowa caucuses, but Mr. Vilsack seems to believe the idea may now be salable on a national level.

“Energy security will revitalize rural America,” the governor said. “Energy security will re-establish our moral leadership on global warming. Energy security will allow us once and for all to remove and reduce our dependency on foreign oil.”

While the governor heads a group of centrist Democrats, the Democratic Leadership Council, he has skewered few sacred cows. In fact, he brokered a rapprochement between the group and labor leaders.

Mr. Vilsack may have piqued some government workers yesterday by touting his efforts to streamline local bureaucracies in his home state.” We have had the courage to change government itself by reducing the size of government,” Mr. Vilsack said, echoing another Clinton mantra.

At yesterday’s announcement, reminders abounded that Mr. Vilsack’s ties to America’s heartland will be a key theme of his race. A large banner in the crowd touted the fledgling candidate’s “Main Street” values. Just before the governor spoke, a long freight train bearing open cars of coal lumbered by the eight satellite trucks parked outside the college gym.

“I’m really pumped up. I’m definitely going to support him,” Martha Dahlin, 55, declared as she left the announcement rally. Ms. Dahlin, a homemaker from Olds, Iowa, said she agreed with Mr. Vilsack’s criticism of the debates that have seized Washington in recent years.

“They’re dinking around about who’s getting married to who and who’s doing what with their body. We’ve got serious problems with the environment and terrorist issues,” she said.

“We’re all going to die from global warming,” Ms. Dahlin’s daughter, Arianna, 12, chimed in.

Asked about Mrs. Clinton’s presidential prospects, Ms. Dahlin said, “I have this uneasiness in my gut. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s kind of like a dynasty.”

“I’d like to see Hillary run,” another Vilsack supporter, Cherie Crock, 63, said. “I don’t know whether as far as the woman thing, she could pull all that off. She has her husband, which to some might be a big asset and to some it wouldn’t.”

Ms. Crock, a retired secretary from Hiawatha, Iowa, said she’s a fan of Mr. Vilsack’s Midwestern style and his reputation as a straight shooter, professionally and at home. “Those down home values might help him,” she said. “I just don’t think he has excess baggage.”

Mr. Vilsack, 55, chose not to run for a third term as governor and will leave office next month. He attended Hamilton College and Albany Law School before moving to Mount Pleasant, the hometown of his wife, Christie, in 1975. They have two sons, Jess and Doug.