Demonstrators have showed restraint during the Democratic convention - at least until the other night. That's when Rep Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and her California colleagues were trapped in their hotel. A march organized by anarchists - calling themselves Unconventional Denver - was close to getting out of control at the delegation's Sheraton Denver lodgings. Woolsey witnessed the melee from her 21st-floor hotel room, "but from that height we couldn't even tell what they were protesting. Even the doors out of the hotel were chained closed." We thought all anarchists disappeared after the '68 Chicago convention!

San Anselmo's Marlene Knox, who describes herself as the sole "grassroots" delegate, may also be the only one to have heard John F. Kennedy at the University of Californi

t Los Angeles in 1961. "Caroline Kennedy's introduction of Ted on Monday night brought it full circle for me."

For Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who on Tuesday drove us out to the Pepsi Center, this marks his eighth national convention. Garamendi and his ebullient wife, Patty, are optimistic that his third attempt to claim the governorship will be the lucky charm. The affable former University of California at Berkeley football star will announce his campaign team next week.

The omnipresent Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco, was holding court outside the California delegation's breakfast meeting surrounded by adoring fans. Wearing his trademark grey pinstripe Wilkes Bashford getup, he faced the microphones with that knowing look. For a few moments, his Honor, who is the interviewer these days for MSNBC, became the interviewee. "If Dianne (Feinstein) runs for governor, she and Jerry (Brown) will dominate. Everyone else needs to forget about it."

As for the competition Barack Obama will face in the general election, the former speaker breezily opines, "Obama has set the bar so high, (John) McCain will never get over it."

A few minutes later we ran into new Congresswoman Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, who has urged Feinstein to run - but with one admonition. "Dianne should come back to California and consider serving a single term." But would she want to trade in a safe Senate seat to have to fix the state's gigantic budget mess? A very tall order even for the state's popular and very adept senior senator. To which Speier says, "she could hit the ground running with little learning cycle."

If this scenario played out, the question becomes who would she appoint to her unexpired term? Early betting line: Gavin Newsom (who would likely exit the governor's race instantly). Maybe her close friend, Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher of Contra Costa? Stay tuned.

The ultimate policy maven is Inverness resident Norman Solomon, a journalist, media critic and anti-war activist who would be delighted to attend health-care briefings from dawn to dusk. An Obama delegate, Solomon is touting his involvement in the progressivesâ "Healthcare Not Warfare" movement.

We were having a late breakfast Tuesday when Corey Booker - Newark, New Jersey's dynamic reform mayor - dropped by our table. The Stanford grad has one of the toughest tasks in America: turning around a corrupt and abysmally run city government. If he succeeds, he has an unlimited future.

The other night, AT&T organized a reception for California legislators and their staff. San Rafael Councilman Paul Cohen was there and reports that except for three or four assembly members, the rest were absent, stuck in Sacramento over the state-budget fiasco. "It ended up with a bunch of lobbyists talking to each other."

The Denver security operation takes nothing for granted. A fellow checked into the Hyatt Regency Monday night with two rifles. It could have been a hunter from Montana, but no one was taking any chances. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Hyatt guest, was spirited out of the hotel until it became crystal clear that the threat was bogus.