Al Franken is in D.C. to celebrate the inaugural–and while he was in town hosted a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for his recount fund at the Willard Hotel. This was Franken’s first trip to Washington, D.C. since he was declared the winner by 225 votes in the Minnesota Senate race–a status that his opponent, Norm Coleman, is now challenging in court.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Franken was using the trip “to meet with major donors and top party officials, including outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean.”

The Associated Press reports today on the “scores” of parties that “lobbyists and corporations are hosting around the capital to mark Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.” Companies and organizations with Pennsylvania addresses are also hosting get-togethers today so guests can watch the inaugural parade in comfort.

Reporters Alan Fram and Julie Hirschfeld Davis give the scoop on one such bash, hosted by NBC Universal and parent company General Electric Co., an invitation-only affair at the National Museum of Women in the Arts whose guest list included members of Congress, incoming Obama administration officials, and celebrities.

Richard Cotton, the executive vice president and general counsel for NBC Universal, explained why they threw the bash, complete with sushi and jazz:

“Obviously there’s a new Congress, a new administration. These are people we work with in many different capacities, day in and day out. This is an opportunity for people to get acquainted, at least on an informal basis.”

Speaking of the inauguration, the watchdog group Public Citizen took a long hard look at Obama’s list of official inaugural donors and discovered that they include a lot of familiar faces from the campaign. Nearly 80 percent of the $35.3 million raised came from just 211 individual “bundlers.”

More than half the inaugural bundlers also served as bundlers to the Obama campaign, according to Public Citizen’s analysis. They include many prominent Wall Street executives, who have been much in the news during the financial bailout, including:

• Louis Susman, vice chairman of Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking and managing director, vice chairman of investment banking, Citigroup ($300,000);

• Mark Gilbert, senior executive, Lehman Brothers ($185,000);

• Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO, UBS Americas ($100,000);

• Jennifer Scully, vice president, private wealth management, Goldman Sachs ($100,000);

• Bruce Heyman, managing director of the Private Wealth Management Group, Midwest region, Goldman Sachs ($50,000);

• Kobi Brinson, senior vice president and assistant general counsel, Wachovia ($35,000)

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has this interesting chart showing donors by employer. Topping the list are Hollywood’s Dreamworks, Microsoft/Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation, and Google.

Updated to add: The Center for Responsive Politics today released its own analysis of official inaugural donors here. From the news release:

The struggling finance, insurance and real estate sector still managed to pull together at least $7.1 million in contributions for Obama’s inauguration, leading all sectors in giving. Financier George Soros and his extended family contributed at least $250,000. The miscellaneous business sector, which ranges from retailers to liquor companies and advertising firms, is next, donating $4.9 million, followed by $3.3 million from the communications and electronics sector, which includes technology companies. Lawyers and lobbyists have given $3 million. (As he did during the campaign, Obama is refusing contributions from registered federal lobbyists but accepts money from their family members and coworkers who aren’t registered.)

Looking at specific industries within these sectors, the securities and investment industry ranks first. Individuals with Wall Street ties–118 of them–have contributed more than $3.6 million, or an average of $30,534 each. The entertainment industry has donated $1.7 million, with $275,000 coming from individuals associated with Dreamworks SKG alone. The film studio’s principals, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, were among the $50,000 donors, along with their wives.

If you haven’t noticed already, the capitol city is turning into one big party. The celebration of the inaguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president is well underway. For example, the Hip Hop Caucus is planning a party tonight billed as an “exclusive pre-inauguration celebrity affair,” invitation only, with sponsorship levels reaching as high as $100,000, according to this schedule of events compiled by the political consulting group ConklinScott.

Events like the Hip Hop party are part of the long list of private events that are not required to comply with President-elect Obama’s restrictions and disclosure requirements for inaugural events. Obama certainly has gone further than any previous president-to-be, limiting contributions from individuals to $50,000, refusing donations form corporations, political action committees, and lobbyists, among other restrictions. (Read the fine print here.)  He’s also made information avaialble about his inaugural donors who give more than $200 here.  But these rules apply only to events funded by the inaugural fund, such as the ten official inaugural balls on Jan. 20.

Private events include corporate-sponsored state society balls, such as the Illinois State Society’s ball. That party is drawing contributions from lobbying firms PMA Group and Holland & Knight, as well as major corporations such as United Airlines, Motorola, Google, and Microsoft, reports the Washington Times.

As at the political conventions last summer, often these parties are carefully planned so members of Congress and top staff can attend while complying with ethics laws. Says the Washington Times:

These parties are being structured so that lawmakers can attend without breaking new rules that restrict their socializing with lobbyists. Many of the invitations include a menu of “heavy hors d’oeuvres,” for example, because lawmakers cannot accept full meals from lobbyists under the rules.

The Poker Players Alliance is hosting a private, invitation-only event to honor “our new poker player in chief” starting at 11 p.m. on Inauguration Day at a well-known local cigar bar. The fine print of the invitation, sent to some lawmakers, notes that the event “conforms with the congressional ethics committee rules.”

The National Journal’s “Under the Influence” blog, via reporter Bara Vaida, has the scoop on parties announced so far for President Barak Obama’s inauguration. She notes that while Obama’s presidential inauguration committee has limited contributions from individuals to $50,000 apiece, and won’t accept any from corporations, political action committees, and lobbyists, there are plenty of unofficial parties where these rules don’t apply.

She points to the gala thrown by Obama’s home state Illinois State Society party, which Politico reports has benefitted from big contributions from Illinois-based companies such as Exelon, American Airlines, Abbott Labs, Kraft Foods, Navistar, and Monsanta. The rumor is that Obama may stop by the event, and one cocktail party may include members of Congress.

Here is a list of parties announced so far compiled by the DC Convention Authority.  Here’s another from presidential-inauguration.com. We’ll work on getting them into our Party Time database.