LOS ANGELES-- That guy is, who else, Arnold Schwarzenegger. This weekend's state Democratic convention is largely a chance for the party faithful to confab about how to knock out the GOP governor, who's likely sitting in his Brentwood home on the other side of town.
Random tidbits, updated throughout the weekend:
* If you want your party's nomination for office, you've got to have better freebies for the delegates than the next guy. Phil Angelides' campaign handed out tote bags. Bill Lockyer's gang spent money on the lanyards to which credentials are hung around the neck. Dianne Feinstein has ball-point pens, and John Garamendi has those noise-making thundersticks that you inflate. No freebies yet, however, from new gubernatorial hopeful Steve Westly.
* Democrats were universally giddy about the governor's recent PR battles. In the press office of the convention hang two somewhat unflattering vacation photos of Schwarzenegger in swim trunks (from the tabloids) with a homemade sign that reads, "Gut Going South, Like His Poll Numbers."
* The convention this year has been redesigned to focus on the party's many, and diverse, caucuses. From veterans to labor to rural Democrats, these caucuses are open to the press and an interesting insight into the thinking of everyday Democrats from across the state. Many of the events feature discussions of how to counter what they acknowledge is a streamlined-- and effective-- GOP message machine.
* And the evening parties were packed on Friday after the caucus meetings... state Senator Joe Dunn celebrated his Irish roots with green beer (which was actually Coors Light, a beer from the family of well known Colorado Republican Pete Coors)... LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn threw a martini party... and the women-in-politics group EMILY's List threw an ice-cream social.
