Opinion: James Carville is spotted jogging; Terry McAuliffe is busy hawking

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DENVER — Plenty of longtime Hillary Clinton friends and supporters are here; this is, after all, a Democratic Party that they no doubt still dream about reclaiming. But at a party gathering of, by and for Barack Obama, the Clinton loyalists tend to have some time on their hands.

So it shouldn’t have been surprising that as the Pepsi Center -- the epicenter of the Democratic National Convention -- bustled with activity earlier today, and several Obama aides, all nattily attired, attended to various chores and exuded importance, political strategist James Carville could be found a mile or so away, wearing a T-shirt and shorts and jogging on the downtown pavement.

Carville was in full stride, looking lean and not-so-mean. The Ticket decided not to disturb him.

But who should we encounter just a few minutes later, inside the Colorado Convention Center (NOT to be confused with the Pepsi Center)?

None other than Terry McAuliffe, the always exuberant former chairman of Clinton’s failed presidential bid, sitting at a table hawking copies of the book he wrote before the 2008 campaign: ‘What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals.’

McAuliffe hastened to assure us that convention delegates and other party activists had been asking for copies of the autobiography, and that the hardback editions were being offered at the cut-rate price of $10 (which included his autograph).

Business, he also reported, had been brisk.

— Don Frederick