WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Before a friendly audience of union workers, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, pledged she would make America "bold again" if she wins her bid for the White House.

"When I'm president we're going to start being bold again -- bold and practical," she told members of the Building and Construction Trades Union. The union, part of the AFL-CIO is holding its 2007 legislative conference in the nation's capital.

"I know we can do this," she added. "We've done it before. And I'm going to be looking to my friends in our unions to help us set that agenda. You know how we're going to start? We're going to end this administration's practice of harassing and bureaucratizing labor organizations -- making them run through and jump through gauntlets and hoops."

Several Democratic 2008 presidential nominees are addressing the union Wednesday.

Last month, the AFL-CIO urged it's member unions to hold off making an official endorsement until the board formally votes on a candidate this fall.

-- CNN's Alexander Mooney and Emily McCulloch