Get the Party Started

In Williamsburg, Gov. Tim Kaine and His Democratic Crew Throw Down Some New Moves in the Old Dominion

WILLIAMSBURG, Jan. 14

Timothy M. Kaine knows how to party.

He can dance, he can play the harmonica and -- who knew? -- he can also sing.

He proved it Saturday night at his inaugural ball in Williamsburg when he jumped onstage to serenade the crowd with a version of "My Girl." So the truth is out. The new Democratic governor of Virginia is a ham.

He got the party started early, gliding across the floor with his wife, Anne Holton, who was wearing a floor-length burnished gold taffeta gown. He kissed her on the lips and then took his daughter for a spin.

This was the party that Democrats dreamed of. He had won a nasty race with 52 percent of the vote in a state where Republicans have long reigned. But Saturday night the dancing was a little more surefooted since Kaine, who followed Democrat Mark Warner into office, is building what they hope is a new party era.

In the stadium arena that normally holds about 10,000 people, the floor was filled with dancing revelers while two large screens on either side of the stage beamed images of Kaine and the entertainment that followed.

It was a high-energy party, with functional decor. Think basketball stadium turned into a ballroom, with strobe lighting, bunting hanging from rafters and rows of tables creatively squeezed into the arena seating. Down on the main floor, partyers stood around tables sipping cocktails and nibbling on fruits and cheeses, chicken satay and crab dip while several hundred bodies worked the dance floor.

Jane Tingley, of Arlington, was standing on the sideline, holding a pair of black heels. Turns out they belonged to her 15-year-old daughter, Sarah, who was wearing out her father, Russell Duncan, a few feet away on the dance floor. Duncan was a classmate of Kaine's at Harvard Law School.

"It's an exciting party. You can sense the enthusiasm and the excitement," said Tingley. "I liked what he said about courage and community today at the inauguration and I want to go back home and put it into action."

The governor didn't hang around long at the Kaplan Arena on the campus of the College of William & Mary. He had to get to another ball in Richmond. But he certainly left an impression.

"He sings very well," said Judith Morroy, part of a Northern Virginia world music band, the Constituents, who also played Friday night in the arena for an inaugural weekend concert.