Bushies set for $35-m wet, wild Washington party

In addition, there are a number of balls and dinners to keep the party-hopping indoors. There are at least half a dozen official inaugural balls hosted by various state Republican units, a Bluegrass Ball, a Black Tie and Boots Ball, an Environmental Inaugural Ball, and an eNaugural.com ball hosted by the high-tech industry that will be webcast.

There are also plenty of odd balls, including a Pregnant Chad Inaugural, a Loser’s Ball, and a Slanted Floor Ball, with some of them observing a ‘‘swearing at’’ George Bush ceremony. A favourite poster of the anti- crowd: Hail to the Thief!

If Bill Clinton’s inaugurals were cast in a Hollywood hue, Bush’s bandwagon is largely Texan. The entertainment will be more country than California, the music more bluegrass than jazz. Barring exceptions like Ricky Martin and the group 98 Degrees, it will mostly be jaded country stars like Loretta Lynn, Lee Greenwood, Wayne Newton, Larry Gatlin, and Brooks and Dunn.

The cultural divide goes back to the nature of the two presidents. Although they are both from the same baby-boomer generation, Clinton is a late night party animal who loves music, channel surfing, watching movies, and hanging out with the Hollywood glitterati. The White House movie hall was used more often during the Clinton years than at any time before.

By contrast, Bush rarely watches television, seldom goes to the movies, and is in bed by 10 p.m. Still, there will be a token representation of over-the-hill Hollywood typesSylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Bo Derek, and Robert Duvall among others.

But where Republicans take the cake, icing and everything, is in the money business. The Bushies have raised more than $35 million in the past month for the inauguration festivities, with most of the lolly coming in the form of $100,000 donations from individual and corporate sponsors making an early pitch at the incoming administration.

Among the biggest donors is the energy major Enron Corporation, which gave the Bush Campaign $310,000, and backed it up with two other contributions of $100,000 each including one by its chairman Kenneth Lay. Other big donors include companies such as Microsoft, America Online, American Airlines, and Ford, many of who have issues coming up before regulators.

A taste of powermongering can be had at any of the several receptions in town, as for instance at a Kennedy Center event hosted by General Motors to honour the new White House chief of staff Andrew H Card Jr., who was once a GM lobbyist.

In addition, the inauguration committee itself will host three dinners tonight at exclusive restaurants, with a price to corporate donors of $25,000 a table. Bush is expected to drop in at all three dinners, which will raise an additional $6 million.In all some half a million people are expected to troop in to Washington this weekend from across the country and even outside. Some 100,000 Republican office-bearers got first dibs at the inauguration tickets. But the mot elite in this list‘‘the Bush pioneers’’ will get a ringside view.

Bush pioneers are officially acknowledged donors who have brought in at least $100,000 to the Bush campaign. That list includes a lone Indian, Dr Zach Zachariah, a Florida physician who is along time Republican fund-raiser.

Look who are going from here
MUMBAI: The inauguration of President Bush will have a desi touch. Among the select foreign invitees are Reliance Group’s Managing Director Anil Ambani and wife Tina. They have also been invited to attend the main Inaugural Ball on the same day. President Clinton during his visit last year had met Reliance Chairman Dhirubhai Ambani and directors, Mukesh and Anil, in a closed-door session to discuss the role of businessmen in promoting cooperation between the two countries.