White House Dinner

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2007/04/grumpiness_prev.html

April 23, 2007

GRUMPINESS PREVAILS AT WHITE HOUSE DINNER

—by Wendy Melillo

…. We had little hope that comedian Rich Little—yeah, try to remember him if you can—would pull us out of our funk. He had already told Sam Donaldson in an interview published in Capitol File magazine that his presidential impressions were a safer choice after the dinner organizers were embarrassed by Stephen Colbert’s more direct approach last year. “I am not here to make any political point,” Little told the dinner guests.
As he droned on mimicking dead presidents, we snuck out early to attend the after-parties. Even that scene was more chaotic and competitive than ever. Three parties this year, not counting the drinks Reuters was serving to special friends at the Four Seasons in Georgetown.
We hit the Capitol File party at the Colombian ambassador’s residence first, since nothing is more depressing than standing in that dreadful Bloomberg line and watching people get shunted aside if they are not on the list. (The Washington Post reported that this year, the unfortunate ones were made to wait in a “roped-off penalty box.” Yuck.) The atmosphere at the Capitol File event was elegant, and the food plentiful. Actress Kerry Washington planted herself by a table and was ever the gracious hostess. “This is my party, and this is the most important one,” she told us. Would she go to the Bloomberg party later? “Maybe.” …