Democratic National Convention

Check back next week to view my Convention Sketchpads from the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

Obama supporters from California at the Democratic National Convention: Getty Images Photo

DENVER - After serving in government as both an elected official and as an appointed officer for four decades, Leon Panetta has seen much of the sweep of recent American political history  - especially as it pertains to the nation's civil rights movement.

That's why on Thursday, Panetta, whose served as a former director of the U.S. Office on Civil Rights, former member of Congress and former White House chief of staff said it's time for California and indeed the whole nation to put its money where its mouth is when it comes to really supporting civil rights and the power of diversity.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom: Getty Images PhotoDENVER - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom used an opportunity Thursday to address the California Democratic Party delegation, leaving little doubt that the young mayor is inching closer and closer to announcing a run for governor in 2010.

While admitting the Golden State is suffering from many different social and economic -- ailments including the lack of a state budget and a massive $15 billion deficit -- Newsom spent a lot time talking about what's going right in California, too.

Newsom said California is the birthplace to the world's high-technology industries and is the place that some of the most advanced and well respected research and academic institutions around the globe call home.

And, he said, the Golden State embraces diversity like nowhere else.

"There's nothing more significant or important than the fact that we are the most diverse state in the most diverse nation on earth. We don't tolerate our diversity, we celebrate it," Newsom said.

Newsom also said that many of the same programs that he has been able to make work in San Francisco could also work successfully on a statewide basis. He cited the city's new low income healthcare plan as an example.

In the audience for the brief speech on Thursday was Garry South, new senior adviser to Newsom's newly formed gubernatorial exploratory committee.

DENVER - One of the state's highest ranking conservative Democrats said today that Attorney General Jerry Brown, a potential 2010 gubernatorial candidate who was once widely seen as a lion of the left, had re-emerged in recent years as a pragmatic moderate.

Brown "has become more moderate over his career," said U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Atwater), a three term congressman from the Central Valley who is a member of the conservative House Blue Dog Democrat coalition.

Cardoza, who is here to attend the Democratic National Convention, suggested that Brown had shown strong leadership during his tenure as mayor of Oakland and as Attorney General, a post he has held for nearly two years.

For those San Franciscan politicos who can't make it to Denver to hear Sen. Barack Obama's presidential nomination acceptance speech this evening, the California Democratic Party has announced it will host a speech viewing party in the city tonight.

CDP spokeswoman Jennifer Longley said the grand ball room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Embarcadero Center will feature eight "giant" flat screen televisions. Doors open for the viewing party at 5:30 p.m. The event is a fund-raiser for the party. Tickets are $25 ($10 for students, seniors and low-income.)

DENVER - Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party warned delegates at Thursday's breakfast meeting that Democrats will need to put their shoulder into the work of getting Barack Obama elected this November.

Torres mentioned a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday showing Obama leading Republican John McCain 42 percent to 39 percent - a decline of 6 percentage points since July.

"This race is tightening up all over the country - and California is no exception," Torres said. "These numbers are likely to shrink."

There is no shortage of second and third generations of American political families addressing delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week: Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy; James Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988; U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the daughter of former New Orleans Mayor/U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Moon Landrieu; U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA), the son of former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey; Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the daughter of former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the daughter of former Baltimore Mayor/U.S. Rep. Thomas D’Alesandro; Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, the son of former U.S. Sen. John Culver (D-IA); New York Gov. David Paterson, the son of former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson; and Cecile Richards, the daughter of former Texas Governor Anne Richards.

Also: U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), the son of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Joseph Kennedy, and the grandson of former Boston Mayor John Fitzgerald.

Check back tomorrow morning to view my sketchpad for day three of the Democratic National Convention, and go to my national blog to follow convention coverage by cartoonists from around the country.