When I arrived at the big Jim McDermott fundraiser that former president Bill Clinton was headlining at Benaroya Hall last night, I was told by one of McDermott’s press people that the former president was running a bit late.

“It’s Bill Clinton,” she said. “Events are transpiring.”

Apparently, dinner was transpiring. Outside of Wild Ginger, located on the other side of Union Street from Benaroya Hall, security and police officers were waiting to escort Clinton across the street and onto the stage. Gawkers loitered on the corners, holding copies of Clinton’s book, My Life, hoping for an autograph. Inside Benaroya, a series of bands tried to make the wait more pleasant, but really, no one was there to hear them.

Finally, about an hour and a half after the event started, Clinton arrived.

You can read summaries of his remarks here and here. The Seattle Times says his suit was lemon-colored. Personally, I would say it was tan, with a salmon-colored tie. But in any case, it was too big—the former president has been losing a lot of weight since his quadruple bypass surgery last fall, and he looks great, but he also seems to need some new suits to fit his new figure.

McDermott, who threw the event to raise money for his legal death-match with Republican Majority Leader John Boehner, entered the stage to the sounds of Aretha Franklin singing, “You better think what you’re trying to do to me…” Clinton, of course, entered to Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”

Aside from raising money for McDermott’s legal defense fund, Clinton was there to tamp down the widespread sentiment that Democrats don’t stand for anything. In his words, Republicans stand for secretiveness, cronyism, and an uncompromising ideology in which “the facts are irrelevant.” Democrats, he said, stand for openness, accountability, and a philosophy that seeks to empower average Americans rather than concentrate power in the hands of a hyper-rich elite.

Clinton said he’s been reading Ron Suskind’s The One Percent Doctrine, and this led into his best laugh-line of the night as he recounted how Suskind has reported that Bush’s advisers like to make fun of people who still inhabit the “reality-based community” (as opposed to being powerful enough to make their own reality).

“I’m serious, read the book,” Clinton said. “Now, if you’ve read my book, you know I grew up in a troubled home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world. And I like it here, thank you very much.”