Tuesdays with Tommie

I'm used to seeing Tommie Williams on Tuesday nights at Carson City Council meetings. Why should things be any different in Denver?

I walked into a diner not far from the Denver Post offices about 10 p.m. Tuesday night, and there she was, getting coffee with two friends.

Tommie is known for speaking her mind during public comment periods, often by ripping Mayor Jim Dear. She said she had just flown in and was hoping to score tickets to Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field. (Isn't everybody?)

Down the street, I went to a party for "rising stars" in the Democratic Party, among them Controller John Chiang -- about whom I have already said quite a bit -- and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

And lo and behold, who did I see there but two other Carson political figures: City Treasurer Karen Avilla and Lambert Adouki, a campaign consultant now working on Dear's recall. Such familiar faces made it feel like a regular Tuesday night in Carson, only with alcohol.

The party seemed like the place to be for California political figures. Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez was there, along with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Compton Councilman (and soon be Assemblyman) Isadore Hall, and, of course, Sean Penn.

The word is that Villaraigosa will be heading out to Pueblo, Colo., after the convention to stump for Obama, and has already been cutting Spanish-language radio ads targeted at swing states like Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. He'll have to campaign pretty hard to match the effort he put in for Hillary Clinton in the primary, but he's off and running already.

Here's Karen:

And Lambert: