A glittering galaxy of Washington celebrities turned out Monday night for a party celebrating the publication of R. Emmett Tyrrell's new book, "The Clinton Crack-Up: The Boy President's Life After the White House."

Joining the crew of Mr. Tyrrell's American Spectator -- including publisher Alfred Regnery and staff writer W. James Antle III -- were such luminaries as former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, Michael Barone of U.S. News & World Report, and National Review Washington Editor Kate O'Beirne, as well as Wes Pruden and Mary Lou Forbes of The Washington Times.

Also on hand was Donna Rice Hughes, who gained unwanted notoriety during the 1984 presidential campaign, but who is now president of Enough Is Enough, a group that works to protect children on the Internet.

Perhaps most intriguing to political observers, however, was the presence of Garance Franke-Ruta, senior editor of the American Prospect, a liberal monthly. Miss Franke-Ruta was not there to socialize, but kept busy with notebook in hand, reporting on the gathering.

A decade ago, when investigative reporting by Mr. Tyrrell's magazine helped expose several Clinton scandals, true-blue liberals tried to ignore Mr. Tyrrell (when they weren't hauling him before federal grand juries). Yet Miss Franke-Ruta seemed sincerely interested in the soiree in honor of "The Clinton Crack-Up."

The liberal love affair with the Clintons appears to have gone cold, and now Sen. Barack Obama is the darling of the left set.

Such is the liberal enthusiasm for the Illinois Democrat that Slate has begun an "Obama Messiah Watch" -- a notion to which one Chicago sculptor has lent his talents.

It is impossible to tell whether Miss Franke-Ruta has succumbed to Obama-mania, although in one recent report she credited him with "the fastest media operation" among Democratic 2008 presidential hopefuls and noted his "surprisingly good humor."

If Mr. Obama's admirers want to defeat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008, they might seek ammunition in Mr. Tyrrell's book, providing the veteran conservative writer with a potential lucrative new readership.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times