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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is asking her supporters to help raise $1 million for Democratic House candidates during the convention.

In a fundraising e-mail appeal on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Pelosi reminded her supporters that "the eyes of the whole world" are "watching us" during Democratic convention week. Pelosi added that House Democrats will match each small-dollar donation to the DCCC with a contribution to the group that's three times as as large.

Read parts of Pelosi's e-mail below.

With the eyes of the whole world watching us this week, it is critical to show our combined strength and shared commitment to creating change.

All eyes will be on Democrats' fundraising totals during Convention week to show our true momentum - our totals will be judged as a measure of our chances to win. The DCCC has set a grassroots goal of raising one million dollars during the Convention.

Your support will make a powerful statement to the media

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.) had many qualities listed when her name was on the shortlist for vice president but there wasn

DENVER -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign announced a new website Monday to help streamline the voter registration process and add to Democratic voter rolls.

VoteforChange.com will allow voters to register to vote, make sure they are already registered and provide them with absentee voting information in their states. The site will also allow voters to identify their polling places come Election Day.

The new site was announced on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.

Jason Green, Obama's director of voter registration, said in a statement that the online tool "simplifies the process."

"The number one reason that people don't vote is because they don't understand how easy it is to register to vote," Green said. He added that the campaign's hope is that "by simplifying and explaining the process we believe that new voters will register, become involved in our movement for change and elect Sen. Obama president in November."

- Sam Youngman

Members of Congress are having a bit of trouble finding their contacts as they wander around the Pepsi Center.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and an aide were struggling to find where they were supposed to go, trying in vain to find convention officials to lend a hand.

Meanwhile, a Pepsi Center staffer expressed frustration that she was not provided detailed maps of where certain organizations had set up shop.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) was also seeking assistance to get to her final destination as members and other delegates get used to their surroundings.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said she is hopeful that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), if elected, will sign her equal right amendment measure.

Maloney said her bill language into the Democratic Party's platform.

Maloney's measure, which has 204 cosponsors, proposes an amendment to the U.S. Constitution relative to equal rights for men and women.

She added that the platform this year is the most "pro-woman" platform in history. Maloney initially backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president.

The platform also endorsed her controversial bill that seeks to crack down on the credit card industry, Maloney said.

That bill, which has 155 cosponsors and has moved through the Financial Services Committee, is opposed by the credit card industry and banking groups.

Asked if it her credit card bill could get 218 votes for passage on the floor, Maloney said it could get over 300 votes.

Howard Wolfson, spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign, said that Barack Obama still needs to reach out more to former President Bill Clinton.

"There is still work to do on the Bill Clinton front," Wolfson wrote in The New Republic. "He feels like the Obama campaign ran against and systematically dismissed his administration's accomplishments. And he feels like he was painted as a racist during the primary process."

Wolfson suggested that Obama could help heal the wounds by working into his convention speech "a line or two" about Clinton's accomplishments as president.

"That should be painless---he isn't running against the Clinton legacy anymore, and it would probably be a good idea to remind voters that the last time Democrats were in charge of the White House, we had peace and prosperity," Wolfson wrote. "Similarly, he could thank President Clinton for all of the work he did throughout his life to bridge the divides in our country. This is a cause near and dear to the president's heart."

As for Clinton, who will speak Wednesday at the convention, he should make "a strong argument in favor of Barack Obama's candidacy."

DENVER - With all eyes on her, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) caused a minor stir Monday morning just before 9 am when she quietly tried to exit the Brown Palace Hotel where she is staying.

While photographers and other bystanders waited for her outside the front entrance, she snuck out a side entrance but happily stopped to chat with a few supporters who made it around the corner. With sirens in the background, she proclaimed: "We're going to have a wonderful convention."

Supporters gushed about how great she looked in a sunflower yellow pantsuit.

"She looks good," remarked Victor Cendeno, a DLCC volunteer. "Yeah," added his friend, Allen Duchemin, another volunteer. "That orangy-yellow suit fits her well. It looks good on her."

And with that, she fled the scene in a black SUV with aide Huma Abedin and security personnel

- Betsy Rothstein and Roxana Tiron

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi will host a fundraiser for Barack Obama next month, and the candidate is planning to attend, reports the Newark Star-Ledger.

The fundraiser will be held at Bon Jovi's Monmouth County home on Sept. 5, the day after the Republican convention, New Jersey Democratic Chairman Joseph Cryan told the newspaper. Bon Jovi had turned down an offer to become one of the state's Democratic delegates to the national convention, Cryan said.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is planning to attend the opening session of the Democratic convention Monday.

Kennedy, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in May, has already arrived in Denver. His spokeswoman said that he would be in the Pepsi Center to watch a tribute to him, but she added that he would not make an address.

"He's truly humbled by the outpouring of support and wouldn't miss it for anything in the world," Stephanie Cutter told the Associated Press.

Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama for president early in the Democratic primary season. Aside from making one appearance in the Senate this summer to cast the deciding vote on a healthcare bill, he has remained out of the public eye since his diagnosis. He has spoken at every convention since 1980, when he made his own bid for his party's presidential nomination.

Responding to attacks against John McCain for not knowing how many houses he has, the Texas Republican Party is hitting back using a recent picture of Barack Obama's Kenyan half-brother living in poverty to question whether Obama "take[s] care of his own family."

"Barack Obama has viciously attacked John McCain and his family for being successful and living the American dream. This even after McCain gave so much to his country," the ad says.

"Obama claims he is looking out for our families in an economic downturn, but ask yourself this. If Obama cares so much about your family, why doesn't he take care of his own family first?"

The ad then compares the Illinois senator's Chicgao residence, the White House and where his half-brother lives.

Obama is shown in the ad body surfing and playing golf while the pictures used on McCain are of the Arizona Republican in a prisoner of war camp and returning home from Vietnam.