Names And Faces At The DLC

DENVER, CO -- ** the It Boy of the DLC Conversation is 39-year old speaker of the Colorado House, Andrew Romanoff. Romanoff, who represents about 70,000 Denver residents, is a convention keynoter fresh off a demonstration of his formidable political skills. He helped broker a compromise between two intractable sides of the immigration debate, one led by ex-Clinton cabinet secretary Frederico Pena, and the other, led by former governor Dick Lamm. Romanoff positioned the compromise so finely that Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) had no choice but to capitulate, angering his own party. The upshot: Colorado now has some of the toughest immigration laws in the West; immigrants must prove their legal status before getting state benefits. Romanoff, who is the state's highest ranking Jewish politician has national ambitions.

** Joe Klein, the dean of the DLC press corps, seems to know every elected official by name and was determined to steer the younger, newer ones into private conversations.

** Tamara Luzzatto, a minister's daughter who is chief of staff to Sen. Hillary Clinton, attended a DLC breakout session called "Connecting with People of Faith." Clinton's legislative director, Laurie Rubiner, also took in early breakout sessions.

** New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is back in the good graces of the DLC; he's among the most recognizable public officials here and is regularly greeted by backslaps and handshakes.

** Where is ex-Sen. John Edwards? He wasn't invited, but don’t read too much into that. “If we had turned this into a presidential beauty contest, we wouldn’t have been able to get anything else done," says DLC founder Al From. [MARC AMBINDER]

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