Party Crasher made the mistake of beginning his night at the Municipal League bash, where the “bouncer” at the door told him, “The party was here, but now it’s gone.”

However, there was not much evidence that a party was ever there to begin with. Four people were standing in a fluorescent-lit room, and one of them, a chirpy intern, was shaking a vase in which a quarter could be heard rattling around. “We made $1.25 this year,” she announced. Then, after digging through the broken pretzels and empty Heineken bottles on the table, she found a penny, and raised the grand total to $1.26.

Word in the room was that the Municipal Leaguers tried to watch the first results on TV, but couldn’t get their TV to warm up in time.