Red, white, and blue balloons festooned the pool room of the Four Seasons last evening. It was not a political rally, but attendees might have mistaken it for one. Rather, it was a book party that President Clinton hosted for a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, for his “What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals” (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press).

Mr. McAuliffe thanked Mr. Dunne for bidding more on the book than Judith Regan did. The audience laughed when Mr. McAuliffe said that the Reverend Al Sharpton, who was present at the party, had asked if he could play Mr. McAuliffe in the movie.

Looking on in the crowd were Chelsea Clinton, Mikhail Baryshnikov — whom Mr. McAuliffe in the book says is a great golfer — and Gay Talese, who attended a book party for Norman Mailer earlier in the evening.

The event reached a crescendo when the prodigious fund-raiser introduced President Clinton as “the greatest president in the history of the United States of America.”

Mr. Clinton replied: “Ladies and gentlemen, Terry’s book will not be criticized for understatement.” The audience roared when Mr. Clinton said Mr. McAuliffe had asked him to come and speak not to help promote the book but because “he says I need practice in a supporting role.”

He said Mr. McAuliffe combined the skills of an Irish brawler, the mind of a scholar, and a businessman’s instinct for getting results.