Two-Stepping Out

The fire marshals stopped people from entering the Ohio Ball at the Convention Center at about 9:30, delaying hundreds who hoped to enter and causing Texas student Lucy Clarke to moan, "My feet are killing me."

And at the Reagan Building, the Rev. Leon Emerson fussed over getting his three handicapped companions into the ballroom. He said the elevators wouldn't come down to the ballroom level, so they kept riding up and down the elevator until the elevator operator finally admitted he didn't know what he was doing. "I'm a retired fire marshal in Denver," said Emerson. "They should shut this place down!"

The Omni Shoreham repeated its coat check debacle of four years ago, once again leaving hundreds of bare-backed women separated from their warm winter coats.

And then there were the losers, bravely soldiering on toward a more radical tomorrow.

Over at Clarendon's Galaxy Hut, a bar the size of a coat room at the Marriott, about a 100 people attended a band showcase put on by Snap Pop!, a local music magazine. It was billed as the "Loser's Inaugural Ball." "I'm looking forward to the tax cut so I can invest in a drug cartel and supply the first family," said Mark Trite, 29, of the folk group Trite Ego.

In the Mayflower Hotel's ornate and corniced ballroom, the District's own Oxymorons played "Lawyers, Guns and Money" as left-out-in-the-rain liberals munched on melon slices and California rolls at the Americans for Democratic Action counter-inaugural ball.

The 54-year-old ADA – founded by Eleanor Roosevelt and others – sponsored its first ball in 1977 when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated. In 1985, it shifted to an anti-soiree when Ronald Reagan was sworn in for the second time.

"This is a place for liberals to come and party and have fun and say, 'This is the beginning of fighting back,' " said ADA National Director Amy Isaacs. About 800 people made reservations. Larry Baldwin, 76, a retired Navy pilot from Centreville, said: "Hell, the president is a loser. We've got to celebrate the fact that the Democratic force is a majority force."

At a nearby table, ballgoers bought "SMUSH BUSH" pins and paid $2 apiece to lift a pretzel jug full of confetti and guess the answer to: "How Many Chads (in ounces) Does It Take To Steal An Election?" A hot seller was this T-shirt: "A Thousand Points of Light, and We Got the Dim One."

During a lull in the music, a somber Paul Strauss, "shadow senator" from D.C., was asked why he was at the ball. "You mark occasions," he said. "I go to funerals, too."