I was able to convince my friend Abby that there was no better way to mingle with the beautiful people than to hit Fire + Ice for the $75 “Young ProfessionalS” Kerry. For sure, it was tall people. (I am 5’8″, and Abby’s 5’7″. I felt dwarfed). This campaign is so tall, I am waiting for the Bushies to accuse Kerry of being Dutch, and not French.

Predominantly we met out-of-towners. We sat down to nosh with a woman who produces a television show in New York. After hearing my George W. Bush impersonation, she asked if I ever considered doing comedy for a living. Ha! I told her that I really wasn’t funny, it was just that Abby laughs at many of the things I say. We also met Sean, who was down from the Granite State. Sean is setting up a campaign for someone who will be challenging Charlie Bass in New Hampshire’s second district (no website up yet– am I supposed to be breaking this news?)

Also in from out of town was Jonathan Soroff, who came all the way from Newton. Okay, Soroff is as Bostonian as anyone there, albeit an Improper one (he is that magazine’s social columnist). Soroff’s official capacity was serving as a celebrity chef, along with Chris Heinz who served as a celebrity bartender (a third celebrity advertised for the event was not revealed.) Abby and I meandered over to his station around the mammoth Fire + Ice grill, and Jonathan immediately extended his greetings. It was nice to share a drink with a fellow journalist, and he raised a glass for my first byline today. I didn’t tell Soroff that he was taller than I expected, but we gave him plenty of gossip, or stuff that could pass for it.

For one, Abby and I peddled my story about no respect for my KerryCore fundraising acheivement. It was our regular conversation starter over the evening, and we found out that some had heard of KerryCore, less had heard of the contest, and even less (0) had heard of the results. We did meet a volunteer BC law student who said he had some role in drawing up the contest rules. Useful to know.

This brings me back to Sean, who I spoke with seriously at the end once the Sam Adams “Summer Ale” drafts cleared my head. We discussed the give-and-take in political fundraising, and how this evening had mostly been on the take. There was no speech thanking people for coming (as there was back at my first Kerry event, a few months back). Nobody recognized the volunteers or the staff or the big machers who may have raised more than I. Nobody whipped up the crowd (of around a couple hundred), nobody sought any volunteers for EarthFest or the Manchester canvassing this weekend. So the general feeling can only be described as smug overconfidence. What the campaign needs, of course, is some more social geniuses like Jonathan Soroff. (Or some parties like the one at Brandy pete’s last month, which for a third the entrance fee had music and dancing and more card exchanges.)