The party’s just started, and it has the deflated feel of a high-school dance an hour before the prom queen and the star quarterback arrive. A 10-piece oldies band is cranking out the Tom Jones hit “It’s Not Unusual,” but no one’s dancing. (Actually, no one’s danced to “It’s Not Unusual” in 30 years.) A small army of RNC staffers, draped in bright red sweatshirts with the logo “Celebrate ’98,” buzz around haplessly, with nothing to do. A pair of Republican lobbyists are passing out cigars bearing labels that read “The Big Lewinsky.” When they spot a woman wearing a Monica-like beret, they dart right over and flirt shamelessly, and who can blame them? Meanwhile the press room is so dead no one’s even dipping into the free beer. This could be a long night.
Reported by the staff of THE WEEKLY STANDARD
