For many veteran reporters, that's sad news, of course. They will now have to move on to the next big buffet if they are to graze on someone else's dime. Before they do, someone should consider one promising line of analysis not yet given much press in all the Monday-morning quarterbacking now going on: What you can tell about a party by what kind of spread they put out for mongrels from the press.

On Saturday night, while waiting endlessly for final election results, correspondents for all the finest national dailies, Mladá fronta Dnes, Lidové noviny, Právo, and tabloid rags as well, invested considerable energy on this problem. Most were only too happy to critique and compare the various party camps based on food, music and atmosphere.

With the benefit of hindsight, it seems as though the bigger the winner, the more swinging the campaign headquarters. The Social Democratic party headquarters at Lidový dům looked like a frat house's 25-year reunion. The brass band failed to drown out the chants of Labor and Social Affairs Minister Zdeněk Škromach, who took to waving a stuffed lion around — presumably a patriotic gesture intended to invoke the mythic two-tailed Czech lion seen on official seals. Festivities came to a halt when Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek came into the room after everyone realized victory was out of reach. Every party has its pooper.

The Civic Democrats (ODS), meanwhile, spared no expense and threw a star-studded garden party in Prague's Kogo restaurant, located appropriately enough for the big biz party in the Slovanský dům shopping mall.

A big bodyguard stood by the door casting a suspicious eye on anyone who didn't vaguely look like a politician or a celebrity. Guests included the National Gallery's maverick director Milan Knížák, Helena Zeťová, Petr Kolář, and a number of other aging pop stars. Champagne flowed freely, especially in the early part of the afternoon, when it looked as though the ODS might win 38 percent of the vote.

The mood was far more somber in the Christian Democrats camp, housed in the florescent-lit basement of the party's headquarters on Karlovo náměstí. Party members and supporters lolled in chairs and leaned against walls like unpopular girls at a high school prom. Enya, piped in from ceiling speakers, and the crackle of pork sizzling on portable grills provided the soundtrack.

The Green Party easily set the tone for how these things should be done, however, partying at Dinitz in a giddy atmosphere of "I can't believe we pulled this off."