On Saturday, Democratic activists from all around the West Coast converged on Sacramento to help decide who will become the next party chairman. The Los Angeles Times' Mark Z. Barabak writes up the meeting.

The race for Democratic Party chairman came west Saturday with seven contestants, including two former congressmen and former presidential front-runner Howard Dean, auditioning for the chance to lead the country's minority party over the next four years.

Addressing a small audience of Democratic insiders — 65 of whom will cast ballots next month — and an audience of several hundred onlookers, the hopefuls sounded several common themes. They bowed to the party icons of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. They promised to cede not an inch of ground to Republicans in any precinct in any state.

And each of them, mindful of their audience, pledged to do more to empower party activists at the state and local levels.

The line of the day must go to former Texas Congressman and Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Martin Frost:

"We have to break the consultant culture in Washington," said former Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, who until recently was a part of that Beltway culture as a 13-term member of Congress. (Frost lost his seat in November as a result of the controversial redrawing of his state's political lines, a move engineered by Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a fellow Texan.)

Check out the whole piece for complete coverage.