At the Gridiron, Pols and Press Share A Little Sizzle and a Lot of Cheese

Budget was clearly not an issue for this production, costumed by legendary Baltimore outlet A.T. Jones & Sons and costing upwards of $250 a plate.

Maybe it's the fact that the entire dinner is technically off the record -- all skits were seen at dress rehearsal -- but each year participants helpfully blab most of the evening's program.

On to reliably sourced highlights:

Gridiron President Carl Leubsdorf of the Dallas Morning News kicked off the night with the traditional "speech in the dark," before segueing into the Democratic skit.

You had a kneeling Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune hamming it up as Dennis Kucinich, singing "I Got You Babe" with club secretary Cheryl Arvidson as wife Elizabeth. Sample lyrics: "Babe, you're my man, my Keebler Elf. We'll run again in two-thousand-and-twelve."

You had one of the Gridiron's "limited members" -- admitted to the club only for vocal chops -- bringing down the house as Rep. Charlie Rangel (N.Y.) singing "Old Internal Revenue Code" (tune of "Old Time Rock and Roll"). The skit marked the first occurrence of loud "Woooooos!" from the audience.

Rangel was supposed to be the Democratic speaker for the evening. He was hospitalized with the flu at the last minute, but no one wanted to scrap the skit. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pinch-hit and spoke in Rangel's place.

"Either I'm going to strike out or hit a home run," he said. "In which case Henry Waxman is going to haul me in front of his committee to testify about my use of steroids."

More "Woooooes." Audience clearly thought he hit the home run.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison represented the Republicans; she dedicated much of her speech to educating Bush on how his life will change when he returns to their shared home state of Texas.

"At the zoo in Washington, the cage has the name of the animal, then the name in Latin. In a Texas zoo, we have the name of the animal and the recipe," Hutchison said.

And there were Obama and Clinton cracks, tons of them, including a fairy-tale rendition of "O-bama-lot," sung by limited member Mike Ryan in full chain-mail regalia: "Climb a wall no one else can climb. Slay a Clinton in record time." Judy Woodruff played Guinevere; two performers made up the four legs of a white horse.