U.S. Sen. Al Franken will speak live from San Diego on Saturday night as California Democrats gather for the state party's spring convention.
The Minnesota Democrat and former "SNL" comic will keynote Saturday's dinner event at the three-day confab, party spokesman Tenoch Flores said.
The $120-a-plate dinner will be followed by a performance by singer Eli "Paperboy" Reed.
Flores said Franken's work on health care and financial regulation made him a good fit for the convention.
"He's quickly developed into one of the Senate's leading progressive voices, and we think delegates and observers are going to be treated to hearing from someone who follows in the proud tradition of Minnesota senators like Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone," Flores added in an email.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein will speak at Saturday's luncheon, Flores said.
The lineup includes a kickoff Friday evening with party Chairman John Burton and former White House adviser Van Jones.
Attendees can also expect to hear from other big-name state Democrats, including Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
The convention runs Friday through Sunday at the San Diego Convention Center.
BALLOT WATCH
Chalk up another salvo in the ballot initiative wars: Civil rights lawyer Molly Munger is addressing California State PTA members at noon today. Their two-day Sacramento confab is focused on helping qualify Munger's tax plan for the ballot and getting it passed. Gov. Jerry Brown has been unsuccessful at getting Munger to back off from her tax plan, which rivals his.
>WORTH REPEATING
"I may have taken off my pink tie in protest, but I didn't throw it away."
SEN. ALEX PADILLA, D-Los Angeles, applauding as Susan G. Komen for the Cure ditched plans to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood. After Komen's original announcement, Padilla had announced that he'd no longer serve as a volunteer "Pink Tie Guy" for the nonprofit.
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