(New throughout with fresh comments)

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and Democrats failed to resolve their feud over spending for the Iraq war at a White House meeting on Wednesday.

Democratic congressional leaders emerged from the session determined to press ahead with legislation attaching a timeline for a withdrawal from Iraq to a $100 billion measure to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino and Bush's Republican allies branded such timelines "surrender dates" and said the president would not accept them.

As he sat down with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers, Bush acknowledged there were "strong opinions" around the table.

But both he and Democrats tried to emphasize a cordial tone and talked of the likelihood of future meetings.

"We came in the spirit of hope that the president would say yes for an answer," Pelosi said. But she added Democrats would not give Bush a "blank check" to keep troops in Iraq as long as he sees fit.

Perino said there was a "general understanding that ultimately the troops will get the funding that they need" and that there was recognition of "fundamental disagreements about deadlines tied to a surrender date."

Bush accuses Democrats of trying to micromanage the war and of loading up the war funding bill with spending on unrelated domestic projects. He has vowed to veto any bill that includes an Iraq pullout date.

Outside the White House gate, protesters for the antiwar group CodePink chanted, "Don't fund Bush's war." Several protesters chained themselves to the iron fence. Secret Service officers cut the chains and arrested them.

Democrats believe their stance on the Iraq funding dispute has been bolstered by polls showing rising opposition at home to Bush's Iraq policy.

In a development that could help fuel public pessimism, a series of car bombs killed 170 people in Baghdad in the deadliest attack since the launch of a security crackdown.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell)

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