OS ANGELES - Representative Martin T. Meehan spent the morning in his sneakers, footwear that fit the speed of the Lowell Democrat's day: back-slapping state politicos at a breakfast, granting interviews, speaking on campaign finances, and making sure his Beverly Hills party for the Massachusetts delegates Tuesday night could compete with the Kennedy soiree at Arnold Schwarzenegger's.
Amid it all, the state attorney general, Thomas F. Reilly, shook Meehan's hand and teasingly said, ''How are you, Governor?''
Meehan, cheeks already colored by the sun, blushed.
Positioning efforts for the 2002 gubernatorial race are evident. Four other potential Democratic candidates in Los Angeles are overtly courting the party faithful, key for running a statewide campaign, or deliberately lying low, reasoning that it's too early to start asking for support.
''I'm not trying to be positioned'' to run for governor, Meehan said with a smirk. ''I'm running for reelection. There's nothing I'm doing at this convention that I wouldn't have done.''
A state and national Democratic Party activist, Steve Grossman, is working the Bay State crowd in Los Angeles more aggressively.
There's a reason for that. He's the only announced candidate so far.
But both Grossman and Meehan, known in Washington and in pockets of Massachusetts, need a larger base to extend their name recognition. And they're each reaching out in their own way.
''You cannot win the Democratic nomination without the confidence and trust'' of the delegates, Grossman said at a breakfast for the Massachusetts convention-goers. ''But a lot of the people in this room are already supporting me.''
Then there are those who have a statewide platform and do not feel they need to network quite so much.
State Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien says with a wink that she's too busy cleaning up scandals in her office to talk about running for governor. And Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who arrived in time for the Kennedy speeches, said he has been busy printing ballots in Boston.
On the surface, Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, appears to be taking a laid-back approach to being in Los Angeles, renting a bike and splashing at the hotel pool.
But he has also been having coffee with small groups of delegates, lunch with others, talking about his candidacy, asking them what they think of him and implicitly asking for their support.
''I wasn't asking them for a commitment,'' Birmingham said.
While impressing this group, either with a swank party or with personal style, is key, the topic of conversation about Birmingham in Los Angeles has revolved around his ''shmatte'' attire, as his Yiddish-speaking mother-in-law put it. One delegation hanger-on said the look was very ''un-gubernatorial.''
Birmingham stepped off the plane in a shocking outfit: very short pink shorts, a golf shirt, a nappy beige blazer with a frayed shoulder, and a Red Sox cap. Poolside at the Beverly Hilton, the Chelsea senator was wearing a different hat that was so tattered the brim looked fringed.
At the Staples Center, Birmingham said his mother-in-law has tossed out one of his threadbare items. ''It may be a shmatte,'' Birmingham said, ''but it's my shmatte.''
The only other possible candidate missing from the scene is former US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II of Brighton, who has retreated from the political spotlight since he withdrew from the 1998 gubernatorial race. Many say House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran will not join the race. And US Senator John F. Kerry has also said he has no interest in that office.
Meanwhile, O'Brien said she is just trying to be professional.
''I probably don't feel any sense of urgency now to become known,'' she said. ''But I'm in a different position. I hold statewide office. I'm still working hard to pull the treasurer's office out of one of the largest scandals in state government history.''
As for the delegates, she said, ''I'm not meeting these people for the first time. ... It's really getting acquainted with old friends.''
State Senator Joan Menard of Somerset, who is also the Massachusetts Democratic Party chairwoman, added: ''I think they're all trying to meet people ... It's a perfect opportunity.''
So how is it going so far?
Grossman said he's starting early in an attempt to ''define the race.'''
He said thousands of Massachusetts Democrats have become independents. Some have become Republicans. And ''we need to invite them back in.''
Grossman, who describes himself as a progressive, said he would like to be known in 2002 as the ''common-sense Democrat,'' whereas Birmingham is ''clearly a liberal Democrat,'' albeit one with a large campaign fund - $1.1 million at the start of the year.
Grossman also said he does not consider Meehan much of a threat because of his congressional agenda.
''Marty Meehan is going to be focused on getting Dick Gephardt elected speaker of the House,'' Grossman said.
It has not seemed that way here.
