The Democratic State Convention that kicks off at the DCU Center Friday night and will grind to a conclusion Saturday evening is a political insiders’ paradise.

And that’s the Dems’ big problem this year.

Every one of the party’s five candidates demo nomineesis flawed in terms of the most crucial attributes important to voters: likeability and ability to appear positive in the media.   And with one exception, they’re all super liberal and may not play as well with independent voters as Gov. Deval Patrick, because of his personal charm and good government leanings, has.

Those lackings are what gives another flawed candidate, Republican Charlie Baker, the GOP’s best shot in eight years to retake the Statehouse corner office in November.

Everyone expects state Treasurer Steve Grossman to win the Worcester convention. Grossman, while no matinee idol, is a wonk’s wonk with plenty of cash, hundreds of endorsements from insiders and elected officials, and a tight grasp of the biggest cache of convention delegates.  He’s got both of Worcester’s state senators – Harriette Chandler and Mike Moore – in his corner.  Of course, history shows that whoever wins the convention has no bearing whatsoever on who takes the September primary.

Attorney General Martha Coakley, the poll frontrunner, will probably come in second or third at the convention, but will win the primary.  Baker, if he succeeds in reinventing himself as a kinder and gentler Baker 2.0 who can appeal to female voters, can beat her in large part because her support is soft among Dems. They remember how she flubbed her first race against former Republican Sen. Scott Brown, and deep down, many Dem voters distrust her.

The Worcester crowd – including Mayor Joe Petty, power broker Mike Angelini, and publisher and strategist Paul Giorgio – is behind longshot Joe Avellone, a physician and healthcare exec whose wife is from Worcester. Avellone is the most conservative Dem in the gubernatorial field.

Former Lt. Gov. and mayor Tim Murray, now the Chamber of Commerce CEO, has a featured speaking role at the party confab. He might be with Avellone. He’s definitely not with Coakley or Grossman, whom he has clashed with over the last two years.

Some wags whisper that Murray, a longtime Dem leader, might even privately support Baker, whom he Tweeted at favorably at the Worcester Business Expo over the winter. After all, Murray is a business guy now.

As for the other two Dems at the convention, it would be a miracle if former federal health care official Don Berwick gets the 15 percent he needs to get on the ballot. He’s even more wonkish than Grossman, with a fraction of the money.

Former Homeland official and Boston Globe columnist Juliette Kayyem might make the 15 percent, especially if Grossman throws some delegates her way in the pre-vote horse-trading. But if she hasn’t caught fire yet, she isn’t likely to in the home stretch between the convention and the primary.

In any event, for most people, the convention is an antiquated distraction, though this year it does keep the spotlight on Worcester after President Obama’s visit.

For the Dem insiders, though, it’s paradise.