John Kerry

Check back tomorrow morning to view my sketchpad for day three of the Democratic National Convention, and go to my national blog to follow convention coverage by cartoonists from around the country.

The third day of the Democratic National Convention will be called to order at 5:00 PM EST on Wednesday, with a theme of "Securing America's Future."

The day will begin with the nominating process for President, including nominating speeches for U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), followed by a roll call vote.

The headline speaker will be vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.).

Featured speakers will include President Bill Clinton (D), U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

The full schedule is below.

Every election year, professional speculators say that young people will vote this time. Every year they don’t. Capturing the youth vote has become the quixotic dream of all politicians.

Jim Camden at the S-R is reporting that the scheduled keynote speaker for this weekend's Democratic Party state convention, Massachusetts Senator and past presidential nominee John Kerry, has had to cancel his appearance due to a scheduling conflict. He will be replaced by Minnesota's freshman Senator Amy Klobuchar.

This is reminiscent of the Republican Party's convention two weeks ago when Idaho Governor Butch Otter backed out at the last minute to attend the homecoming of a local National Guard unit from Iraq. In this instance, Sen. Kerry will be attending the funeral of a soldier this weekend.

U.S. Senator Kerry’s stock has dropped a few notches since his last keynote at the national convention in Boston, but the Inland Northwest will be the beneficiary of his fading star. We look forward to stiff delivery, bad jokes and painful repetition of lines that only sound good when Obama says them.

First came a Democratic Presidential candidate who fell short of the mark, as Governor Chris Gregoire announced last week she would host a fundraiser featuring special guest Bill Richardson, the New Mexico Governor and fourth place finisher in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

Now Gregoire has the help of the "real deal," 2004 nominee and current Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. PolitickerWA.com has obtained an e-mail sent to Kerry's supporters asking for their financial support to help Gregoire's re-election campaign.

Check out the winner and runner-ups for this week's Cartoon Caption Contest.

Care to come up with a caption for this cartoon? Click more for the rules and prizes!

John Kerry came to Seattle on Friday to host a town hall meeting for Barack Obama.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), the Democarts' 2004 standard bearer, will be in Seattle to campaign for Barack Obama at the University of Washington HUB Friday morning.