Other Democratic partisans will attend the CounterInaugural ball at the nightclub Dream in Northeast Washington.

The essential feature of the New Deal realignment was that it produced not only Democratic victories but also Democratic partisans.

It just seems that the Republicans are, today at least, more adept at the black art of attack politics, according to historians and flummoxed Democratic partisans.

So Democratic partisans are trying a variation.

Smirk, of course, is the top-of-the-ticket characteristic that Democratic partisans have been trying to pin on Governor Bush.

Democratic partisans are also stepping up efforts begun in the last months of the campaign to rally the churches and religious groups already inclined to take their side.

The most common word I hear from Democratic partisans to describe their own party is "pathetic."

But the labor federation's advertising campaign has led the Republicans to characterize labor leaders as "bosses" who are using scare tactics to promote their Democratic partisans.

But on Capitol Hill, Democratic partisans suggest that the bitterness will not evaporate overnight.

Still, the contrast in energy between Democratic and Republican partisans is unmistakable, and underscored in several polls.