Last night, your three On Tap bar flies managed to assemble for a visit to a bar (or rather, series of them) of an entirely usual variety. Specifically, thanks to the generosity of the good folks at National Review (really, Geraghty), Cam and I were invited guests to the cocktail parties that preceeded last night’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Capitol Hilton in Washington. (If you want to read about the actual dinner, itself, the Washington Post has a pretty good write-up.)

To be sure, I’ve heard a lot about these blow-outs before. And if you hadn’t, you need only consult Wonkette or Fishbowl DC (which describes the evening as Washington’s “prom”.)

But I’d never actually seen the thing in person.

It was, in a word, striking.

The various pre-parties were wrapped around a lovely outdoor plaza, and once into one, you could mingle among all of them.

Cam met Justice Clarence Thomas and hung out with some cast members from 24.

I said hello to Justice Antonin Scalia, talked immigration (briefly) with Ben Wattenburg, introduced myself to Fed Chair Ben Bernake (who made a joke about interest rates), and chatted about Virginia politics with an old reporter friend from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

There was a lot of celebrity watching to be done, as well. I saw everyone from rapper Ludacris to recent American Idol victim Mandisa. I spotted Michael Strahan — who Krempasky apparently ran into across town. (He was the tall one.) Phil Simms hung for more than a little while with the National Review crowd. And Washington Post columnist / TV star Tony Kornheiser was impossible to miss. (Hello, Tony. It was a little late in the evening for the shades, wasn’t it?) Favorite pass-time for the evening: making fun of all of the hideously bad celebrity fake tans. (Tucker, you look like you’ve spent too much time at a nuclear waste site.)

But for me, the highlight of the evening was running into former Virginia Governor (and now, Mayor of Richmond) Douglas Wilder. You see, I had been a student in a small seminar that the Governor taught a few years ago at Hampden-Sydney College. Happily, he remembered it well, and despite the fact that he seemed hot in pursuit of someone else, stopped and chatted with me about for more than a few minutes. Fond memories and well wishes were exchanged. And I drifted off with a smile on my face.

The cynical part of me thinks that my genuine smile was in the minority. There was much glad handing, networking and source-building being done around me. But upon reflection, it struck me that although the event has very much come into the 21st century, there’s something very old school about the whole thing. Reporters and their sources, getting together, getting to know each other, putting aside the spin and just enjoying each other’s company. That can’t be bad for reporting.

Next year, we’ll have to figure out a way to have a blogger room.

Cam says: It was a wonderful and incredibly odd evening. Besidese the fake TV tans (something I definitely need to keep in mind if/when the OnTap TV show takes place), there were some dresses that just defied explanation.

Case in point- the woman in her late 50’s who thought it would be fun to wear a dress that looked like four of Warhol’s Campbell soup paintings sewn together. Ma’am, that was mmm, mmm, bad.

Rita Cosby, on the other hand, looked delicious. Seriously. I can’t find a picture of her from Saturday evening, but she’s now surpassed Patti Ann Browne on my AILF list.

The thing I didn’t like was turning into a celebrity-hound. What do I care if Phil Simms is standing ten feet away from me. I wasn’t a Giants fan growing up. And yet there I was, thinking to myself “Wow. That’s Phil Simms. I wonder who else is here?” If I get to go back next year, I really hope I can restrain myself from the oohing and ahhing over the celebrities.