It was not meant to be a night simply for mourning.

Like pockets of Democrats and other malcontents across Washington, the post-inauguration bash at Platinum nightclub thrown by Billionaires for Bush — a decidedly unwealthy clique of protesters posing as GOP bigwigs — blended anger, frustration and the vague promise of better days ahead.

This night, Billionaires organizer Marco Ceglie explained, was all about morale. “This is the last party before the war,” Ceglie said. “A Bush win will be good in the long run for the movement.”

Democratic consultant Peter Hickey donned a tux and accent meant to convey wealth and power. Downing cocktails and dancing on the balcony to the sounds of the band down below, he remarked, “We’d rather laugh than cry.”

Marko Cortina, a recent college grad who waits tables and still lives at home with his parents, showed up to the ball in a top hat, white scarf and matching gloves. Cortina bemoaned capital punishment — the emblem in the eyes of many progressives of Texas’s law-and-order culture — while sipping on an Amstel light.

The still-inchoate movement that Hickey, Cortina and others are clinging to has a long way to go. For one thing, it’s not crystal clear what the activists stand for, beyond such progressive clich�s as “social justice,” “equality” and “environmental stewardship.”

For another, as one Republican at a nearby inauguration fete pointed out, the Billionaires are apparently unaware of who their base is: While the wealthy tend to vote GOP, the superwealthy increasingly back Democrats.

Still, said Dan Dimendberg, a former field director for Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.) who was also at the Billionaires party at Platinum nightclub, there is cause for optimism. If only Democrats, Dimendberg said, would run as Democrats, they might start winning again.

As for why Bush won again, David Schlossman, a grant writer and attendee of the anti-Bush ball, said: “Bush won reelection because he succeeded in scaring people. Parody is a great way to expose someone who is lying, and it’s a great way to overcome fear.”

Chris McLauer, who was dressed like a Saudi Arabian oil sheik, came to Washington from Atlanta for the ball and to party with his friends. But, he said, he’s not necessarily a Democrat, more independent than anything else. Still, he doesn’t think much of Bush. “I dislike him, yes,” he said. “I am opposed to Bush.”

As the band on stage prattled on about rich, white men and corporate America and the crowd of faux-Texas oilmen and Tammy Faye Bakker look-alikes chanted, “Four more wars!” Dimendberg dissected the 2004 presidential campaign:

“John Kerry acted like a man who was running for votes in an election,” he quipped. “The Republicans didn’t.” A woman nearby with a battery-powered tiara agreed. Referring to the president, she said: “I really believe he’s sincere, and that’s the most frightening thing.”

The mission this year, activist Andrew Slack said, is to build on the solidarity and optimism that pervaded much of 2004 and to breathe fresh life into a new progressive era.

Slack, 25, the Boston-based founding director of Wheredowego.org and a member of a comedy troupe, said the group has been interviewing left-wing luminaries since the Nov. 2 election, including Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter With Kansas?, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and representatives from Greenpeace, the Feminist Majority and the Human Rights Campaign.

Wheredowego, born of Democrats’ hope and disappointment during the last campaign, seeks to foster “a national conversation” about the future of progressive politics, Slack said. The goal is not to win a few elections in 2006 or 2008 but to transform the Democratic Party by refocusing it on ordinary Americans — and away from the business elites favored by the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.

On election night, Slack was with his close friend and fellow progressive Ben Brandzel, of Moveon.org, when the returns came in. “I just started bursting into tears, crying on his shoulder, not just about all the suffering this will cause but all the amazing people that put their hearts and souls into this election,” Slack said. “After Nov. 2, all of us felt very much alone, just an automatic feeling of alienation from the rest of the country. And it’s very important for us not to forget that we’re not alone.”

Progressives — who are quick to say they’re not “liberal” or even “Democratic” but “independent” voices fighting for equality and justice — may not be alone. But they have yet to figure out what, exactly, they believe.

For example, they poke fun at voters who care more about Jesus than the spotted owl but promise that next time they’re not ceding any ground to Republicans when it comes to religious voters.

Still, these progressives are naturally bitterer, for the time being, than their right-wing foes, many of whom are too busy angling for White House jobs or trying to get on the guest list at Smith Point to realize there’s anyone still in D.C. to the left of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.).

“Your children,” warned one Billionaire, “are going to speak Chinese.”
“Can you feel the greed?” boomed another. “We’re going to make sure that the poor people suffer and the rich get richer.”
Slack, sounding a more hopeful note, said the left needs a new messiah, someone to take over the party and take back the Oval Office. “I love Barack Obama,” he said of the newly elected Democratic senator from Illinois, “but he probably won’t be ready in 2008.”

On second thought, he added, “maybe he will.”