By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Sunday, April 22, 2007

Poor Michael Kelly. The late columnist and Atlantic Monthly editor always gets the blame for transforming the historically insider-clubby White House Correspondents' Association dinner 20 years ago by bringing Iran-contra It Girl Fawn Hall -- which, legend has it, started the celebrity-guest arms race among the media types who populate the affair. But at least Hall was a bona fide D.C. newsmaker, as was 1988 attendee Donna Rice, the woman who sank the Gary Hart campaign. No, the true responsibility lies with the Clintons: Not until '93 did the dinner start drawing busloads of infatuated Hollywood types. Add the draw of Vanity Fair's glamorous after-party, and the night grew to its current surreal form: yet another pit stop on the Red Carpet Highway. Based on the warm welcome or cold shoulder they received, here's our ranking of VIP guests over the years:

1987 -- Fawn Hall

1988 -- Donna Rice

1990 -- Marla Maples

1993 -- Barbra Streisand

1996 -- Kevin Costner

1997 -- Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche

1998 -- Paula Jones

1999 -- Larry Flynt

2000 -- Cast of "The West Wing"

2002 -- Ozzy Osbourne

2004 -- Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul

2005 -- Patriots QB Tom Brady

2006 -- George Clooney

2007 -- Sanjaya Malakar

Like weddings these days, the White House Correspondents' Association dinner has morphed into a three-day affair -- from Friday receptions for the favored out-of-towners, to the actual event Saturday, followed by Sunday hangover brunches (John McLaughlin hosts the most prominent).

At People magazine's Friday cocktail party at Indebleu, journalists and staffers sidled up to "Project Runway" eminence Tim Gunn and "High School Musical" star Zac Efron, the first of People's zeitgeisty guests to land in D.C. (Sanjaya was not expected until yesterday; Valerie Bertinelli was stuck on jury duty in L.A.) Efron wore Beatle bangs and a skinny tie. Adorable. How old is he? "Nineteen," People's bureau chief Sandra Sobieraj Westfall said quickly. "That's a virgin mojito. I got it for him."

Across town at the Park Hyatt, a couple hundred semi-drunk political and business types vied for a seat at the Creative Coalition's "celebrity invitational" poker tournament and a moment or two with Hollywood eye candy such as actress Kerry Washington ("I Think I Love My Wife"). Tim Daly ("Wings," "The Sopranos"), the last actor eliminated in the four-hour game, divulged his mishap at a White House luncheon the day before: "My fly broke." Really? A smitten fan interrupted: "That's Tim Daly. He's my future ex-husband."

Yesterday, the crowds jammed a narrow street in the Palisades for the annual power brunch co-hosted by MSNBC producer Tammy Haddad and lobbyist-turned-entrepreneur Hilary Rosen. "Go meet Tiki Barber -- he's adorable," Haddad said, waving to some place under the vast tent in her back yard, where 300-plus guests gulped mimosas and tenderloin: Morgan Fairchild, in gold lamé and heels, chatting up Chris Matthews, in a baseball hat and jeans; Norah O'Donnell showing off her hugely pregnant tummy to another mom-to-be. "I thought I was being invited to a little backyard party," Ann Curry of NBC's "Today" show told us. "I had no idea. I have to say I'm overstimulated and confused."