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CBSNews.com’s Scott Conroy went deep inside the bowels of the Pepsi Center with political commentator Laura Schwartz for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the convention. From makeup to the green room and the convention podium itself, get a speaker’s-eye view of the Democratic National Convention. Watch it here, only on CBSNews.com:

(DENVER) I caught up With CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield at the DNC site in Denver. Jeff shared his insights on how covering the conventions has changed over the years, whether there is discontentment among Hillary Clinton’s delegates and who he thinks John McCain will pick to be his running mate, among other topics.

Watch the full interview below:

The Republican and Democratic National Committees both released ads today attacking the opposition party’s presidential candidate.

Picking up on a theme the McCain campaign has been pushing in its ads in recent days, the RNC uses Hillary Clinton in its effort.

“Who has the experience to govern our nation?,” an announcer asks as the spot opens. It then cuts to Clinton complimenting McCain and suggesting that Obama brings less to the table than herself or the Arizona Republican.

“Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, I will bring a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002,” Clinton is shown saying.

The announcer then chimes in again.

“Barack Obama – he give a great speech, but now Americans must ask ourselves, ‘Should we elect the most inexperienced presidential candidate of our times – or was she right?’”



The RNC plans to spend between 2 and 2.5 million running it in major markets in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and western Pennsylvania.

The Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, has released a new Web spot, "Totally in Agreement," that shows McCain talking about his agreement with President George W. Bush on many issues.

The final clip comes from a McCain appearance on “Meet The Press” in 2005; McCain says, “The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed, and on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush."

The spot concludes with the words “More Of The Same.”

The Democratic National Convention Committee has announced the speakers for the third night of the Democratic National Convention, where the theme is "Securing America’s Future."

The headliner is the as-yet-unannounced vice presidential nominee. He or she will be joined by:

Former President Bill Clinton, who "will speak on Barack Obama’s commitment to a stronger and safer America, as well as the history of Democrats making positive change in the lives of all Americans."

Governor Bill Richardson and Senators Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and Jay Rockefeller, who "will echo Obama’s call for a new direction in national security and outline his policies and plans to secure America’s future."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who " will discuss Barack Obama’s plans to make America more secure by investing in smart energy policies."

Also scheduled to speak are Senator Ken Salazar, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, Representative Patrick Murphy and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth.

Just because Biden, Bayh and Richardson are on this list does not mean they are out of contention to be Obama's running mate. The campaign says that if one of these men (or another convention speaker) were to get the nod, that person would simply have his or her time slot moved.

The Democratic National Committee unveiled a Web site this morning spotlighting seven people discussed as potential running mates for John McCain: Eric Cantor, Charlie Crist, Carly Fiorina, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Fred Smith and John Thune.

In a press release, the DNC write that the purpose of the site, called "The Next Cheney," is to illustrate "the most important thing the voters need to know about each of John McCain's potential vice presidential picks: no matter who he chooses, any ticket with John McCain on it means more of the same."

Visitors to the site are offered critical information about each of the potential veeps – they can "Learn more about Pawlenty's ethics violations," "Crist's admiration for Bush," or "Romney's position changes," for example. Clicking on the links takes media reports and other documents painting each politician in an unflattering light.

The site prominently quotes McCain telling Cheney in 2001, "With a little more luck, I might have been able to ask you to be my Vice-President." It will be updated with information about additional vice presidential candidates in the coming days, according to the DNC release.

UPDATE: Republican National Committee Spokesman Alex Conant responds to the site: “The irony is that Obama – not McCain – voted for Cheney’s energy bill. While everyone else is debating the all-too-real energy crisis, it’s good to see Democrats are obsessing over hypothetical political match-ups. The DNC is having fun with Washington parlor games, but the rest of the nation is debating the merits of McCain’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy plan versus Obama’s ‘inflate-your-tires’ approach.”

UPDATED Barack Obama has sent a letter to the co-chairs of the Democratic National Convention’s Credentials Committee urging them to pass a resolution allowing the Democratic delegations from Florida and Michigan to be fully represented at the Democratic National Convention.

The states were stripped of their delegates as punishment for moving their primaries before February 5th in violation of Democratic National Committee rules. They were awarded half-votes at a May meeting.

The Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns sparred during the primaries over how the delegates from the two states would be allocated, with the debate centering on whether the allocation would be based on the popular vote or some other measure. Clinton won both states, though Obama was not on the ballot in Michigan, complicating efforts to award delegates.

As Clinton looked to keep her campaign alive towards the end of the primary process, she called on the DNC to fully seat the delegations from the two states. The Obama campaign, which would have been hurt in its battle for the nomination had the delegations been fully seated at that point, did not join Clinton's call.

A Democratic source told CBS News today that Obama walked a "fine line" during the primary by deferring to the DNC while Clinton was using the question of full representation issue as a rallying point.

"...I believe Party unity calls for the delegates from Florida and Michigan to be able to participate fully alongside the delegates from the other states and territories," Obama wrote in the letter. "Accordingly, I ask that the Credentials Committee, when it meets on August 24 to approve the delegates for the National Convention, pass a resolution that would entitle each delegate from Florida and Michigan to cast a full vote."

He continued:

"As a candidate for the nomination, I supported the DNC’s efforts to establish and enforce a schedule for primaries and caucuses that would broaden the opportunity for Democrats from all regions of the country and all backgrounds and walks of life to have a meaningful voice....As we prepare to come together in Denver, however, we must be – and will be – united in our determination to change the course of our nation. To that end, Democrats in Florida and Michigan must know that they are full partners and colleagues in our historic mission to reshape Washington and lead our country in a new direction."

The DNC released a statement in response to the letter.

"Today we received a letter from Senator Obama requesting that the Convention's Credentials Committee grant each delegate from Florida and Michigan a full vote. We deeply appreciate and value Senator Obama's perspective on this important issue. This matter will be the top priority for the Credentials Committee when we meet on August 24th. As always our goal is to ensure a fair process and a unified Democratic Party so that we can win in November."

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Yesterday, the New York Times ran a story on what it characterized as a "Democratic convention effort marred by costly setbacks and embarrassing delays."

"With the Denver convention less than two months away, problems range from the serious — upwardly spiraling costs on key contracts still being negotiated — to the mundane, like the reluctance of local caterers to participate because of stringent rules on what delegates will be eating, down to the color of the food," wrote the Times.

The story painted a damning picture of the planning of the event, and also suggested that the campaign of Barack Obama was frustrated with "organizers who they believe spent too freely, planned too slowly and underestimated actual costs."

The story was so damning, in fact, that it has prompted a response from Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean and Democratic National Convention Committee C.E.O. Leah D. Daughtry, who suggested that it was "gross misrepresentation of the groundwork that has been laid to date."

Dean and Daughtry wrote that contrary to the Times' claims, the convention has been well-managed and costs and contracts are under control.

"Despite uninformed criticism in the New York Times and the city’s worries about the color and fried nature of food among other things, our focus remains on putting on an historic event that helps keep Senator Barack Obama on a path to victory in November," they concluded. "When August comes, the eyes of the world will be watching. And we’ll be ready."

The DNC and DNCC have struggled to raise money during this election cycle, in part because the Democratic candidates themselves attracted unprecedented fundraising support, drying up some of the DNC and DNCC's traditional sources in the process. Convention fundraising has also been slowed by the fact that the Obama campaign doesn't allow the DNC or groups related to it to take money from corporate lobbyists.

(That hasn't, however, stopped both the Republican and Democratic conventions from shaping up as what the Los Angeles Times characterizes as "a multimillion-dollar infomercial underwritten by corporations and lobbyists whose influence both presidential candidates decry." Click here for more on that.)

In a conference call today on the Democrats' decision to hold the final day of the convention at Invesco Field (not the Pepsi Center, where the rest of the convention will be held), Dean suggested that the DNC wouldn't be able to make the move if the convention were over budget.

The Democratic National Committee announced that it intends to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to try to compel the Federal Election Commission to examine whether John McCain broke election laws when his campaign rejected public fundraising, the Associated Press reports.

When McCain turned down a taxpayer-funded $5.8 million, his campaign was able to skirt spending limits that would have been in place until the Republican Party convention.

The issue in question is a $4 million line of credit obtained by the McCain campaign last year, which the DNC has argued was a violation of federal regulations. The McCain campaign and its bankers have denied that claim.

The lawsuit is a follow-up to a complaint the DNC filed with the FEC in February, which was not acted upon, since four FEC nominees were waiting Senate confirmation and the body lacked a quorum.

*Update: Later on Tuesday, RNC chief counsel Sean Cairncross called the lawsuit "meritless," the AP reports. Cairncross said that McCain was entitled to withdraw from the public finance system because he didn't take public funds during the primary season.

The Politico reports on a “major shakeup” in the Democratic Party in which presumptive nominee is seizing control of the DNC and moving some of its operations to his home base of Chicago.

DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney tells Politico that the committee’s political department will be “dramatically rebuilt” and staffers offered the choice of moving to Chicago or joining state organizations. “The DNC's key role in coordinating political operations with state parties is expected to largely be taken over and overseen by Obama's senior staff in Chicago,” Ben Smith reports. Read the entire report here.

From CBS News’ Michelle Levi

Washington, DC -- Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean told reporters over breakfast Wednesday that the DNC and Barack Obama’s campaign are already united on several key campaign issues including campaign finance, transparency and voter research. "When the nominee comes in," Dean explained, "basically they set the policy for the Democratic National Committee. We are going to abide by whatever Senator Obama advises us to do."

The governor stressed his optimism about the impact of an extended primary season. "When we designed the 50 state strategy we did not have in mind 50 state primaries all which mattered," Dean joked, "but we got that and I think its at the end of the day going to be a very good thing" adding the qualifier, "now that we are through." He bragged, "we basically got to do a dry run of every state in the country six months before the election."

One benefit of the Democrats' season of infighting, according to Dean, was the creation of extensive voter files which will be available to every democratic candidate heading into November. "Obama used our voter files exclusively and the way they do that is through the states," Dean explained. "Since we all have the same voter files we have a national voter file map, the states build it, we pay for it on the condition that whoever uses it for the state gives us their data back."

The governor said he was "a little surprised" by the rate of his party's reconciliation "given the length of the primary season” but acknowledged “it will take some longer time" to be completed. Dean referenced his experience after dropping out of the presidential race in 2004 and said, "it is always harder for the supporters than it is for the leaders. But I think we are well on our way to unity. … We really do have to genuinely reach out to the people who were disappointed in the outcome," he said. Dean allowed there is concern that Clinton supporters may be disillusioned and stay home or turn to McCain. "But the leadership is coming around very quickly ... they get what's at stake here," he added.

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