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ST. LOUIS -- At last year's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Robin Carnahan, delivering her speech while the evening's meal was being served, could barely get her message across over the clatter of meals and trays reaching their destination.

For this year's annual Democratic fundraiser, held Friday night at the Renaissance Grand hotel downtown, organizers were smart enough to separate the rubber chicken from the red meat.

And Carnahan made the most of it -- she appeared much more relaxed this year, mixing in farming metaphors that could later turn up in her stump speech. (Carnahan, who operates the family farm near Rolla, asked Dems in the audience to be her "Bull Detectors" during the race.)

"This election is going to be a lot of fun," Carnahan said. "It's going to be a 'barn burner,'  as we say back at home."

Other notes from Jeff-Jack include:

• Keynote speaker Ed Rendell, former DNC chair and current governor of Pennsylvania, came onstage to the Pennsylvania polka. Rendell told the crowd that Democrats need to work to push their agenda forward, even it means falling short in future elections. "If we are going to lose, let's lose, let's lose fighting for something we can believe in," Rendell said. "There are somethings that are worth losing an election for."
• Rendell shared a table with Gov. Jay Nixon and his wife Georganne; Missouri Dem party chairman Craig Hosmer; St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley; and Anheuser-Busch executive Lewis McKinney. Mayor Francis Slay was not at the dinner; he is in China, working on developing trade relations with the country.
• A few feet over, Robin Carnahan and her mother Jean were sharing a table with St. Louis lawyer Linda Martinez, who had a brief and rocky tenure as Nixon's economic development director.
• State Auditor Susan Montee's speech was one of the highlights of the evening. In her best Gov. Nixon impression, Montee relayed the advice she gave him about succeeding on the often monotonous campaign trail: "You just have to keep giving them that same boring message over and over." Montee, up for re-election in November, said she was choosing to "ignore" her potential GOP opponents, and concentrate on the work of her office. The next audit, Montee said, opens the books in University City. Did she know that University City Mayor Joe Adams -- running for State Senate -- was in the crowd?
• In addition to the Anheuser-Busch, dinner donors included the Simmons Law Firm, several unions, and the St. Louis Police Officers Association, which is lobbying Jefferson City against a bill to take control of the city's police department away from the state.
• New State Rep. Stacey Newman was in the crowd -- while she have a primary opponent?
• State House hopeful Clem Smith, a former auto worker now at Boeing, was making the rounds with Damon Jones, son of State Sen. Robin Wright-Jones. Smith is running for the seat being vacated by Don Calloway, who is running for State Senate.
• Young Democrats hosted the afterparty at Flamingo Bowl.