As expected, George and Laura Bush had a ball Saturday night.
In fact, they had eight of them.
The long delay in determining the election results left little time for inauguration preparations, so the new president had to make do with just eight official inaugural soirees–fewer than the record 14 thrown by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, in 1997, and the 11 held by his father, former President Bush.
And, counting late arrivals and acceptances, the younger Bush’s guest list ran to about 50,000, down from 75,000 for Clinton’s.
But crowd count is no measure of a good time–especially with Texans.
“We’re so happy,” Bush said as he and the new first lady started off the evening at the ball for supporters from Arizona, California, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Tennessee.
In jest, the president gave a little dark emphasis to his mention of California, which went to Democrat Al Gore in the election. Gore’s home state of Tennessee, which went to Bush, received more enthusiastic and mirthful treatment–and resounding applause from everywhere in the enormous hall.
Bush said he was honored that the first inaugural ball he visited was in the capital’s new Ronald Reagan federal office building, and promised to keep the peace and make opportunity available to everyone in America.
“But this is not a time for making speeches,” he said. “It’s a time for dancing.”
Without further ado, he and Laura Bush commenced a brief and careful two-step. Steering her to the edge of the stage, he kissed her cheek and they were off to the next stop, the ball for New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“I love being your president,” he said, though all three states went to Gore in the election. “I can’t wait to begin to work tomorrow.”
Then it was another two-step, this time a little smoother and more cheek-to-cheek.
The first lady chose the ladylike glamor of a sleek column dress with red satin pumps by Stuart Weitzman, all finished with a ruby and diamond necklace from Dallas designer Sue Gragg.
The dress, a confection of red Chantilly lace, silk georgette and crystal beading in a vine and floral pattern, with a scooped neckline, was designed by Bush’s longtime Dallas designer, Michael Faircloth.
To ward off the chill of the January night, the first lady had also acquired a red silk satin evening coat with a sky blue silk satin lining, featuring the same vine and floral crystal beading as her gown.
The Illinois ball, shared with guests from Alaska, Alabama, Louisiana and Michigan, predictably was populated with prominent politicians, including Gov. George Ryan and Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.).
“I’ve been to a number of black-tie balls in Washington, but most of them were for the president, who for the last eight years has been Clinton,” Fitzgerald said. “This is the happiest one.”
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The biggest bash, of course, was that of Bush’s home state at the Washington Convention Center, which with the help of the tiny delegation from Vice President Dick Cheney’s home state of Wyoming, filled a space sometimes devoted to mere auto shows, with about 13,000 cheering supporters.
“It’s a big night for Texas,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas). “Everyone is so pumped up.”
Unlike the unofficial and wild and woolly Texas State Society Black Tie & Boots Ball on Friday night, which featured a live longhorn steer named Bevo and a plastic mule, the official Texas shindig was highly refined, even though both were attended mostly by the same Texans.
At Black Tie & Boots, they dressed in what might be called designer rodeo clothes. Saturday’s official Texas blast was almost New York chic–with a few cowboy hats.
Among the other hotspots Saturday was the Florida bash, where the land of the swinging chad swung to the New Society Orchestra.
Awash in furs, big hair, bigger jewelry and a posse of cowboy hats, the Florida do at the elegant National Building Museum rocked determinedly, as if to banish any memory of the miserable month the Sunshine State’s ballot brouhaha cost the rest of the nation.
Munching on cheese and crackers, mini-egg rolls and chicken nuggets and downing $5 beers and $6 mixed drinks, the guests gamely acknowledged the strange role the state had played in the presidential election.
“We had to be where the chads were hanging,” said businessman Peter Hudson, who got his ticket from his law firm, Patton Boggs, which also represented the Bush team during the Florida recount. “It was definitely historic and it was also chaos.”
“Deal with it,” country singer-cum-ball-host Larry Gatlin told the crowd. “We won under the rules of law.”
While guests filled the dance floor jitterbugging to the “Bugle Boy of Company B,” Dorothy De Mars of Palm Beach looked on and explained how she had come to be at the ball. “My girlfriend in Florida slept with chad,” she said deadpan.
Indeed, Linda Postel, 44, a medical technician in Palm Beach County, affirmed that, as a volunteer, she had provided security by sleeping with the chad, the little bits of paper punched out of the paper ballots.
There were some unofficial balls where the enthusiasm for Bush was perhaps more muted.
The Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal advocacy group aligned with the Democratic Party, once again held its counterinaugural ball at the Mayflower Hotel. It has been staging them since 1977.
“Spirits are high,” said the group’s spokesman, Mike Alpern. “We’re down but not out.”
Rock, a musical staple at the Clinton parties, seldom was heard at the Bush bashes, although Meat Loaf starred at the California ball. Nell Carter was the headliner at the New York do.
Mostly, the Bush crowd favored traditional dance bands and country and western.
Gatlin, Linda Davis and other western warblers headlined at some of the hoedowns, while others featured the kind of musical ensembles that both generations of presidential Bushes were more accustomed to–the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra at the Texas and Wyoming Ball; the Guy Lombardo Orchestra at the Ohio.
The latter was hosted by TV’s Drew Carey, while fellow sitcom stars Kelsey Grammer and Dixie Carter presided over the Texas and Wyoming celebration.
Many of the famous present were familiar inaugural faces. Lyle Lovett, a fixture at Clinton’s last inaugural, provided music at this one, as did Clint Black, Lee Greenwood and the Beach Boys, favorites of former First Lady Nancy Reagan.
The Illinois bash was serenaded by the Pat Dorn Orchestra and High Society, with husband-and-wife actors Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke as hosts.
Cheney and his wife, Lynne, danced at the Illinois celebration, and the vice president said, “When we report for work we’re going to do our level best to give you a government you’re going to be proud of.”
Somehow, they managed to cram guests from all 50 states into the eight venues, plus folks from American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the erstwhile Gore stronghold known as the District of Columbia.