ON RIVAL TURF

Even in Tampa this week, President Barack Obama commands the stage ? at least with fellow Democrats.

A handful of party heavyweights gathered at the Democrat's "war room" down the street from where Republicans are holding their national convention.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Obama for America senior adviser Robert Gibbs were gearing up to criticize Republican challenger Mitt Romney's policies when an organizer announced: "The president is about to speak on television, so we'll start after that."

Obama spoke for a few minutes about emergency response preparations to Hurricane Isaac, not politics, but when the speakers followed, each mentioned the hurricane before tearing into Romney.

? Peter Prengaman ? Twitter http://twitter.com/peterprengaman

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EDITOR'S NOTE ? Convention Watch shows you the 2012 political conventions through the eyes of Associated Press journalists. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rival-turf-231053325--election.html

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