Hollywood's Own Party Agenda: 40 Bashes

DENVER

Charlize Theron, long and lean in a flowy sundress and dark jacket, rested her chin on boyfriend Stuart Townsend's shoulder yesterday as the gorgeous duo basked in a senator's praise.

"An example of when Hollywood really matters," Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) gushed about Townsend's "Battle in Seattle" documentary on the 1999 World Trade Organization riots, before it screened at the Impact Film Festival, one of many VIP confabs on the convention's fringe. "It's hard to educate people about trade policy."

And Lord knows, it wouldn't be a Democratic convention without Hollywood. The beautiful people descended on the town in a big way starting Monday night, in time for such a massive lineup of parties -- at least 40, according to some cheat sheets -- that some succumbed to natural selection.

At the Rock the Vote Ballot Bash, Jakob Dylan kicked off his opening set to an almost empty Ellie Caulkins Opera House. After his first two songs were greeted by a smattering of applause, one of the VIPs whispered to our colleague Jose Antonio Vargas: "This is embarrassing. We gotta get more people in here!" (They did, by the time N.E.R.D and Fall Out Boy took the stage.)

Where was everyone? Some L.A.-to-D.C. frequent fliers like Tim Daly , Richard Schiff and Rosario Dawson mingled with the likes of Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Jim Clyburn at a GQ/Maker's Mark party, our colleague Mary Ann Akers reports.

But as of midnight, the mobs on the street were still being held back by the clipboard girls at Planned Parenthood's celebrity-studded "Sex, Politics and Cocktails" party. This was the groovy wing of the Democratic Party -- cute youngsters gyrating in pink PP T-shirts, free condoms ("Protect Yourself From John McCain (In This Election)"), the dance floor sticky with mango mojitos, the fire marshal threatening to shut it down.

Plus: pretty Hollywood people just dying to talk politics: Alan Cumming , Joy Bryant , Cyndi Lauper . Ashley Judd told us about her busy agenda -- a National Democratic Institute confab that Madeleine Albright got her into, an Emily's List event. Was she always an Obama supporter? The actress, in a 1950s-looking red cocktail dress, got a certain look on her face: She was an Edwards person. Ohhh, how do you feel about that? "Disssss . . . " Judd began. "I'd prefer to spend more time talking about Senator Obama."

Aisha Tyler loomed over us in a black ensemble with jeweled neckline and told us that she wants "to be inspired" by the political process -- "not as a celebrity, just as an American." She had spent the evening watching the convention on TV. "I'm trying to absorb as much of the experience as possible and not just be shuttled from one event to another."

And there was Fred Armisen, the "Saturday Night Live" comic who bravely took on the job of portraying Obama. What was the trick to "getting" Obama? "Watching him in the debates with Hillary, I felt like he was a good listener," Armisen told us. "He was like this" -- and he leaned forward, squinting and blinking at us earnestly through his chunky dark-rimmed glasses.

Obama visited "SNL" last year, and Armisen was blown away. "He was so charismatic and friendly --" He paused. "And tall."

Hmmm. Is it a challenge to do a caricature of a personality you're so clearly in the tank for?