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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Bill Clinton, still the Democrats' Dream
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Editor
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Bill Clinton will be partying tonight at Dream nightclub in Washington.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Wesley Clark travels to Milwaukee today to deliver a major health-care policy speech, Dick Gephardt makes one tomorrow in Des Moines. Howard Dean's raising money in Chicago today, while John Edwards tears across Iowa. Wendell Ford goes on the radio in Kentucky to call Ernie Fletcher a vicious liar, while Dick Cheney goes to Mississippi to stump for Haley Barbour.
There's a lot going on in politics today. But honestly, it's difficult to focus on much else when we have Bill Clinton partying tonight with 20-something Democrats at Dream nightclub in Washington.
Nightclub scene
In a trend we like to think Janet Reno started last year by throwing a fund-raiser at Level nightclub in South Beach, Clinton will appear tonight at a sold-out, DNC-sponsored money event at the four-story Dream -- one of Washington's hottest hip-hop nightclubs, or so we're told.
In fact, at the risk of revealing just how un-hip the Grind really is, we admit that our only exposure to Dream was a 2001 profile we read in the Washington Post, where we learned that Dream is a "four-floor luxury oasis of marble and mahogany in a dead zone of warehouses off New York Avenue." It's "a world of luxury that seems the quintessence of, say, New York, 1999," whatever that means.
Although the DNC teased guests with the prospect of mingling with Beyonce and P. Diddy, they'll apparently have to settle for the likes of comedian Chris Tucker, OutKast, Genuwine and a few Washington Redskins.
The DNC says it's sold more than 2,000 tickets at $50 a pop to young Democrats, most of whom are first-time donors.
The event, which runs from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. (on a Monday??) and is expected to raise more than $100,000, reflects Clinton's lasting appeal among party faithful. But the specter of the impeached president being surrounded by fawning youths was not lost on his tireless detractors. "You know why [Clinton's] coming," GOP consultant Craig Shirley quipped to the Washington Times. "To meet girls."
First time in Washington
Not to be outdone, Republicans are bringing their own luminaries to town this week. CNN's Steve Turnham tells us that Arnold Schwarzenegger will make his first trip to Capitol Hill since he became governor-elect three weeks ago. Arnold is scheduled to meet Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST with the California delegation from both chambers in H-313. He'll also meet with the Senate and House leadership, and will drop in on a Senate GOP steering committee meeting.
Will Arnold sit down with Uncle-in-Law Ted? Stay tuned.
