The Democrats' transition unfolded as delegates flocked to a city bracing for protests alongside the parties and politics. Caterers did a runaway business; so, too, private security firms and fencing contractors.

Hillary Clinton, in town as Senate candidate from New York, neatly summed up the business at hand. "We are here to do everything we can to highlight the Clinton-Gore administration and to promote the Gore-Lieberman administration," she said.

The four-day convention starts Monday, with Clinton's valedictory speech the opening night highlight. Caroline Kennedy was making her most visible public appearance on Tuesday and on Wednesday, Lieberman was making his prime-time speaking debut -- setting the stage for Thursday's finale when Gore will accept his nomination. Democratic officials hope the program will boost Gore's popularity and help wipe out Republican George W. Bush's lead in the polls.

Gore trails Bush by 10 points, 48 percent to 38 percent, in a Newsweek poll of registered voters released Saturday, roughly the same margin as reported by CBS and ABC polls released the day before.

Clinton arrived on the West Coast on Friday and plunged into a schedule packed with fund-raising events for his presidential library, his wife's campaign and his party.

Saturday evening's fund-raiser featured a large cast of Hollywood figures, from Red Buttons to Whoopi Goldberg, and was expected to yield $1 million for the First Lady's Senate race.

Gore campaigned in Pennsylvania, stressing his commitment to the environment by visiting the homestead of Rachel Carson. Her 1962 book, "Silent Spring" was a seminal moment in the rise of the modern-day environmental movement, and Gore said his mother had given him a copy when he was a boy.

"It was a major lesson for me," he said, adding that many of the same groups that attacked Carson for her views were now berating him.

"She was the target of a very well financed attack," Gore told about 200 supporters gathered on a hillside. "We've seen some of the same things."

Gore campaigned while Lieberman observed Sabbath, taking a 24-hour break from political activity and attending weekly services at his Orthodox synagogue in Washington D.C. In keeping with tradition, he donned a skull cap and prayer shawl before entering the service. Also in observance of religious ritual, he and wife Hadassah sat in different sections of the synagogue, since Orthodox Judaism requires men and women to worship apart.

Southern California was the scene of unusual political ferment.

In Long Beach, the Reform Party was split in two, a shadow of the political force that played such a key role in the last two presidential elections.

Pat Buchanan and John Hagelin both claimed the party's nomination for president, and a legal battle loomed over the party's $12.5 million allotment of campaign funds. "Let me admit it: if the establishment is able to deny us the little amount of money we get, and we get a media blackout so that I'm not covered, and then they keep us out of the debate, yes, they can make it impossible to win," Buchanan said in an interview.

Ross Perot was the Reform Party candidate in 1992 and 1996, and each time, he siphoned off votes that Republicans could have used in their battles with Clinton.

This time, though, the third-party threat loomed larger against the Democrats, with Ralph Nader threatening to siphon off voters in key states Gore must win to hold the White House.

"You're seeing Nader bumper stickers already," said Mark Pocan, a delegate from Wisconsin who said he wished the Gore campaign was paying closer attention to the challenge from the longtime consumer activist.

"I'm always afraid when they don't pay enough attention to the Nader factor," he said.

In Los Angeles, anti-abortion activists were among the early protesters, carrying poster-sized pictures of aborted fetuses around the perimeter of the heavily secured convention site.

Opponents of U.S. immigration policies set up 553 white crosses in a church parking lot to mark the deaths of those known to have died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally since 1994.

No violence was reported -- but no one was taking any chances.

A security fence topped with razor wire was thrown up around a hotel across the street from the convention site and near an approved area for protests.

Nearby businesses were paying top dollar for private security guards. "We are charging more, not just because there is a demand but also because of the level of threat," said Richard F. Moreno, president of one firm, American Asset Protection.