Democratic Convention plans coming into focus

Some details about how the Democratic National Convention is likely to play out are being revealed:

Advisers to President Barack Obama are scripting a Democratic National Convention featuring several Republicans in a prime-time appeal to independents ' and planning a blistering portrayal of Mitt Romney as a heartless aristocrat who 'would devastate the American middle class,' Democratic sources tell POLITICO.

Republican speakers? Can't wait to see who signs up for that role.

The current plans also have a heavy emphasis on what Politico's source calls "real people," i.e. non-politicians speaking about how the choice between Obama and Romney personally affects them. And this is a bit interesting:

But the plans show organizers intent on steering clear of controversy as well. For the gay marriage social contrast, for instance, the documents state the participants should be 'not a gay couple' ' but a 'parent and gay son or daughter.'

I'm not sure how the convention having participants speaking directly about the party's support for gay marriage counts as "steering clear of controversy," since I'm sure it will give a great many conservatives aneurisms.