By John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington Bureau

Some Rhode Island convention delegates put the speeches and the symbols into the context of a grand national campaign strategy. Some delegates put the same sights and sounds into the context of the neighborhood back home.

State Sen. Juan Pichardo is in the second category.

When Pichardo watched Sen. Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama and the rest of the Democratic National Convention's opening night speakers here inside the Pepsi Center, he thought of his neighbors in Elmwood and the rest of his Providence Senate district.

"The focus was on family and on what Barack wants the new policies to be and what the future bodes for all of us," said Pichardo.

Pichardo said that message is "important because a lot of families in my district are struggling to make ends meet."