For a politician who's never won DFL endorsement, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak sure has had quality time with Democrats lately. It helps that he was an early Obama supporter.

Rybak is in Denver this week as co-chairman of the Minnesota delegation. That means he may get some national face time when state roll-call votes are taken. He has also spoken to groups in Denver on the topics of obesity and infrastructure, spokesman Jeremy Hanson said.

When the political spotlight shifts to St. Paul and the Republican National Convention next week, neither Rybak nor Chris Coleman -- St. Paul's DFL-endorsed mayor -- will be addressing that convention. "We weren't asked and we didn't ask to," said Bob Hume, spokesman for Coleman.

SO LITTLE TIME, SO MANY CELEBRITIES

Is Denver big enough for both Sean Penn and the Obama Girl?

Entertainers at all levels of political seriousness are finding their niches on the sidelines of the convention.

Penn showed up at the city's public library Tuesday as an observer at an Oxfam America round-table panel about Gulf Coast recovery efforts. On Wednesday, he addressed a rally linked to Ralph Nader's independent presidential candidacy.

The Obama Girl, Amber Lee Ettinger, was getting a bigger stage than ever with an appearance Wednesday on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

Other celebrities spotted at the convention and around Denver: Louis Gossett Jr., Ashley Judd, Spike Lee, Chevy Chase and his wife, Everclear frontman Art Alexakis, Moby, rapper Bun B, Charles Barkley, Angela Bassett and Richard Dreyfuss.

WHAT'S NEXT: GETTING ON THE BUS

When Barack Obama and Joseph Biden campaign by bus in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio after wrapping up the convention, they'll be following a familiar route.

Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney took a whistlestop tour by train of Ohio, Michigan and Illinois after leaving the convention in 2000. Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore launched a 1,000-mile post-convention bus tour in 1992 through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.

Theodore Roosevelt campaigned from a train during his 1903 run, and Harry S. Truman did the same in 1948. Of course, flying wasn't the easy option it is today. But candidates still turn to bus and train tours as a colorful way to continue their momentum.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS