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Christopher DeMuth at Thursday's AEI dinner. (Peter Holden for AEI)

One in an occasional series of dispatches from parties you should have crashed.

Event: American Enterprise Institute's farewell dinner Thursday for outgoing President Christopher DeMuth.

Site: The dramatic glass atrium of the National Portrait Gallery.

Guests: A constellation of conservative superstars -- Dick and Lynne Cheney, Antonin Scalia, Newt Gingrich, Paul Wolfowitz, Josh Bolten, David Brooks, Bill Kristol, Michael Mukasey, Scooter Libby and -- huh, who invited Obama OMB guy Peter Orszag?

Repast: Lobster pot pie, rack of lamb, a nice pinot.

Surprising Sideshow: Two female acrobats in flesh-colored bodysuits who hoisted themselves up flowing white streamers and undulated around each other in a mesmerizing fashion. What upper-body strength!

Comedy: A series of "how many AEI scholars does it take to change a light bulb?" jokes. Best line, Norm Ornstein's "You need a bipartisan commission." Ah, maybe you had to be there.