CHARLOTTE -- Ed Rendell warned Pennsylvania Democrats against complacence yesterday urging them to ignore reports that the state was moving more securely into the Obama electoral column.

Speaking at the delegation breakfast here, the mayor-turned governor-turned-author-turned-TV-talking-head told his old party colleagues, "Don't be fooled ... I believe that they are laying a little bit of a trap for us.''

He referred to reports that in the face of President Obama's persistent polling lead in the state, third party Republican groups had pulled their advertising money from Pennsylvania airwaves to concentrate on more competitive states.

He reminded the delegates that such decisions could change quickly.

"They have so much money,'' he said. "If they decided to come in and blitz ... the last six or seven week.. all of a sudden it's within the margin of error.''

He lauded the Democrats' plans to register voters and ensure that they have the official identification demanded under the state's controversial new voter ID law, but warned that if those efforts are not successful, it could mean the loss of as many as 100,000 potential Democratic votes on election day.

"I want you to act in the next eight weeks as though we're behind by two points,'' he said, urging the crowd to ignore polls that say otherwise.

Half in jest, he urged the Democrats to make sure that Sen. Bob Casey wins over businessman Tom Smith by the largest possible margin. Noting that the senator had proven one of the state's biggest vote getters, he pointed to Mr. Casey's sole statewide loss and said that people would look back at that race and say of the one politician who had defied him, "That other guy must have been pretty spectacular.''

That other guy, of course, was Ed Rendell, who defeated Mr. Casey in a hard fought Democratic primary for governor in 2002.

Last night's Bill Clinton speech at the DNC had to compete with the launch of the 2012 NFL season (after the league moved the game from its usual Thursday night debut, due to Obama's convention speech). Football and politics will again collide in prime time Sunday.

The Steelers play their first game Sunday night in Denver against the Broncos, so both US Senate candidates from Pa -- incumbent Democrat Bob Casey and Republican challenger Tom Smith -- have booked airtime on NBC affiliate WPXI-TV during the 8-midnight game block.

The cost of one 30-second ad during the sure to be highly watched broadcast is $20,000.

By James M. Perry

It was nice last night to see a familiar old face at these national conventions.

There up on the podium at the Democratic convention in Charlotte was Bill Clinton, the hair white now, but with the same gravelly voice and the same impish smile. Bill Clinton, the Peck's bad boy of American politics, was back in prime time and loving every 49 minutes of it.

We missed the Bushes, father and son, at the Republican convention in Tampa, and where, we wondered, were Bob Dole and Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle? In Charlotte, we saw Jimmy Carter, as earnest as ever, briefly on video, but there was no sign of Fritz Mondale, Michael Dukakis, or Al Gore.

Bill Clinton filled in gladly for all of them.

The speech was "too long," David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, said on PBS, "but it was effective." Brooks said Clinton actually talked -- almost endlessly, some might say -- about policy, the missing ingredient at the GOP convention.

In defending Obama's handling of the economy, Clinton, coming across last night as your favorite old college professor, said Obama came into office "with a much weaker economy than I did. No president, not me, not any of my predecessors, could have repaired all of the damage he found in just four years." He didn't quite say it, but surely he implied it, that in his time Republicans in Congress were more amenable than the ones who serve there now.

Democrats, he said, have never hated Republicans "the way the hard right seems to hate our president."

"Democracy," he argued, "does not have to be a blood sport. It can be an honorable enterprise." What works in the real world, he said, is cooperation. "We believe 'we're all in this together' is a better philosophy than 'you're on your own.'"

Now listen to this, he would say. Or, this is serious, you've got to hear this, and on and on he would go explaining Obama's position on the budget and health care and a lot more and the way he thinks Republicans have twisted so much of the record.

All of this was played out against a story line that Clinton and Obama don't really like each other very much. After all, he upset Hillary to win the Democratic nomination four years ago, but Mrs. Clinton is now Obama's secretary of state. "Heck," said Obama, "he even appointed Hillary!"

He took a stab at analyzing Obama. He's a man, Clinton said, "who's cool on the outside but burns for America on the inside."

And, after last night, he said, "I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama."

Bill Clinton burns all over. He is is our best living politician, and he did what he had to do last night.

James M. Perry, a prominent veteran political reporter, will be contributing regular observations for post-gazette.com during the two political conventions. Mr. Perry was the chief political correspondent of The Wall Street Journal until his retirement. Prior to that, he covered national politics for the Dow Jones weekly, The National Observer.

See earlier columns:

Perry on Politics: Breaking foolish traditions (Aug. 27)

Perry on Politics: New day at the Cow Palace (Aug. 27)

Perry on Politics: A big-time politician (Aug. 28)

Perry on Politics: Christie good, Mrs. Romney better (Aug. 29)

Perry on Politics: Balloon drops (Aug. 30)

Perry on Politics: The nub of Romney (Aug. 31)

Perry on Politics: Only in America (Sept. 4)

Perry on Politics: A spark of humanity (Sept. 6)

So, how's the convention playing? Attention to Bill Clinton's speech (which David Maraniss at the WashPost calls a classic) or platform changes on God and Israel? So much for economic issues. The main headline at Fox News' website this morning is: Democrats Struggle To Include -- God?"

The Obama camp is previewing the president's convention-closing speech (starting sometime after 10 p.m. tonight) with the video below, called "Promises Kept." Mitt Romney has a noon rally in Orange City, Iowa.