arianna huffington and members of the huff post are on the red carpet. only journalists credentialed by the white house can buy tickets to this dinner. it is $300 a pop area anyone who

is not a white house journalist has been invited by the news organizations such as this. we do have a table there. joyce woodhouse and political consultants brad and dallas woodhouse as our guest. you will see all these arrivals. 7:50 p.m. is when the pre-dinner program begins. that will be live on c-span as well. we are following twitter and we are going to be showing you some behind the scenes tweets. you can follow us at twitter at c-span. we will be reading some comments on facebook.com. it was only in 1962 that women were allowed to come to this dinner.

live coverage on c-span. [indiscernible]

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announcer: live coverage on c-span of the white house correspondents' dinner, and that was bill belichick there on the red carpet, live coverage.

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announcer: live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner red carpet arrival. ivanka trump on your screen. her father, donald trump will be attending this year's dinner. if you are on twitter, you want to follow along #whcd. this tweet came in a while looking. michael kelly from "house of cards," he is at the dinner as well.

[indiscernible] announcer: that is former speaker of the house newt gingrich and his wife and they are there as guests of christian broadcasting network.

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announcer: and another former speaker of the house, democratic leader nancy pelosi is with her husband. john casish from ohio tame

through early. $300 a ticket. [indiscernible]

announcer: and that gentleman in the center of your screen who just gave a buss to senator pelosi, that is the former governor o'malley from maryland, potentially talking about running for president. he is talking to the bearded gentleman who plays one of the aides, one of the inept aides,

mark hell prison who is doing the -- hellprin who is with bloomberg. and lucious malfoy from the harry potter movies. c-span's live coverage of the 2015 white house correspondents dinner.

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announcer: gayle king from cbs news oprah's best friend, that's how she is also known. washington hilton hotel has hosted the white house correspondents dinner for the last 40 or so years and this will be live tonight the 2015 dinner. you'll hear from president obama, 7:50 p.m. eastern time is when the festivities in the ballroom get underway and then the post-dinner program begins at about 8:30 p.m.

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announcer: and you're watching c-span's live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner. this dinner has grown into a full weekend of events

brunches prebrunches cocktail party on friday night and of course the big dinner on saturday night. today there is an event called the garden brunch, it's hosted by tammy haddad who is a washington resident, of washington society, a former tv producer and one of the guests at her brunch was mike kelley, you might know him as doug on "house of cards." >> mike kelley, house of cards a.k.a. doug. >> pretty cool. >> as you attended this dinner before? >> for me, this and the emmys, right up there. >> why? >> just some people that -- we

meet actors and stuff, but meeting politicians and correspondents. >> who are you excited to meet? are you a guest of abc tonight? >> i'm a guest of reuters. chris matthews he is one of my favorites. meet the president would be a real thrill for me. >> what do you think about the intersection between hollywood and washington and what you do for a living? >> you mean my -- obviously, we dramatize the whole thing. i pray to god it's not like that. i do have a young staffer, not the same one, but some young staffer will come every year at the event and say i know. maybe not, but a lot of

efficient men out there. >> the real mike kelley, thank you. announcer: and that was mike kelley, chief of staff to the president on "house of cards." back to the hilton, there is connie britton of "nashville." >> [indiscernible]

announcer: now as we continue to watch the live scene at the washington hilton. we want to show you the interview that c-span did this morning with alfre woodard, the actress from >> state of affairs" and many, many movies. we caught up with her at the garden brunch as well. what do you think about the intersection of washington and hollywood at the white house correspondents dinner weekend? >> i have never been, so i am here to see what happens for the first time. i have spent a lot of time in washington. i was there five years, but i never partied in washington. i have come to work.

you know, we're only a day and a half in and frankly, i'm a little exhausted. we don't do it this hard in hollywood. >> are you going to the dinner tonight and as whose guest? >> i'm going tonight as a guest of "u.s.a. today." >> who have you met? are there politicians that you have met or want to meet tonight? >> i think i spent a lot of time here over the decades first as a protester shouting and chanting and marching around because democracy survives. i came inside, we were encouraged to come in and start to talk, people were yelling, trying to change policy around. worked on a lot of issues concerning women, children right now i'm really concerned

with the criminal justice system and policing nationwide. and whatever, i have just been an activist all this while. so the people i know, i know lots of people over the years, but i have access to them, everybody does ok, let's talk. so anybody i would like to know, if i run into john boehner or mitch mccon normal, i would actually like to say can i come and chat with you? you can't really talk about things at these events, first of all, the music is glaring. everybody is shouting to hear each other and they're drinking, so i think can i come see you, i would really like five minutes and later on you do that. >> alfre woodard thank you. and that was alfre woodard the actress. "state of affairs" is her

latest project. a minute ago, you saw darby standsfield arriving on the red carpet. she is the press secretary on scandal. if you want to follow the tweets that we're following, you can follow us as c-span. we are using the #whcd and you can also follow us on facebook facebook.com/c-span. you probably don't need any help identifying wolf blitzer of cnn and his guest, jane

fonda. her former husband, ted turner owns cnn and she is cnn's guest this year.

[indiscernible] announcer: and a reminder that you have to be a credentialed white house journalist to even think about buying a $300 ticket to this dinner. you can invite any guests you want. somebody has invited actress ashley jud who at one time thought about running for senate against senator mitch mcconnell.

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announcer: and again live coverage from the white house correspondents dinner from the washington hilton. that woman has to be a real c-span watcher to know who that

is, marie hart, the deputy spokeswoman at the state department along with wolf blitzer and jane fonda. [indiscernible]

announcer: and just a minute ago. this picture was tweeted out the president's motorcade arriving at the washington hilton. it's going in the entrance on the side of the building. this is the building where president reagan was shot in 1981 outside of that building.

that little overhang has been added since then. there is lester holt in the foreground being interviewed nbc temporary anchor. joe scarborough and minka pierzynski. at c-span is our twitter handle and facebook.com/c-span if you want to follow along and see some of the comments that people are making about the white house correspondents dinner. [indiscernible]

announcer 2: and now on the red carpet johnny, ice skater, blond with the hair up, that is tara lipinski, they did the olympic ice coverage from sochi.

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announcer: that's former new york mayor and owner of bloomberg media, michael bloomberg arriving for the dinner. bloomberg media has quite a presence here at the dinner and in washington, quite a bit over the last six months, of course, you have to be a credentialed journalist just to consider buying a ticket for this dinner. all of the celebrities you see are invited guests.

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announcer: this is c-span's live coverage of the 2015 white house correspondents dinner. this is the arrival ceremony, or all of the arrivals at the red carpet entrance. the dinner itself will begin in a half hour or so. we'll be live and you'll see everything from this dinner from the washington hilton. again, this has turned into a weekend of events here in washington and there is a brunch sponsored or hosted by tammy haddad and hillary rosen

and anita dunn, three very prominent women here in washington and one of the people who attended her brunch this morning is actor tim daly from "madam secretary," brother of tyne daly and c-span caught up with him. what's the importance of this weekend? hollywood meets washington and we all have a party. >> i like to go back to the tradition of this event, it's a chance for everybody to let down their drop their partisanship and make fun of themselves and the people at the white house roast each other and have a good time. it's a good way to blow off steam and laugh at yourself and have a party. i don't think there is anything that important except for me personally because i'm president of the coalition, we make this about our add

advocacy and march around the halls of congress and speak to senators and those about us. it's work and then play. >> and for your show do you have washington consultants? >> well, you know, i like to say that madeleine albright, the real madam secretary is my white house correspondent's -- i'm going with her as my date this year. she is the real champion of our show. it's important to keep in mind, that we are a tv show. i mean, we solve a world crisis every week. it's really a much slower process. we're not a documentary. >> tim daly has work to do solving world crises, we'll let him go on his way. >> thank you very much. >> tim daly is going with the network that his show is on, cbs news. madeleine albright is also a guest of cbs news.

follow c-span and the coverage of the dinner. you can follow on twitter and facebook. there is al roker.

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announcer: that of course is martha stewart on your screen who is another guest at the white house correspondents dinner. the woman in the blue dress that we saw just a minute ago, that was uma abadeen married to anthony wiener and top aide to hillary clinton.

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announcer: that of course is donald trump arriving for the dinner and the dinner will take place in the largest ballroom in washington, d.c., it's at the washington hilton. 2,600 guests tonight at 260

tables 10 people per table. you'll hear from the president as well as cicely strong of "saturday night live," that's part of the entertainment and c-span will be live throughout the evening, so we're taking you now inside the ballroom here at the washington himent. -- hilton. ♪ ♪ [indiscernible]

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announcer: live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner. katie correct and justice scalia . some say this is what it is all about. having journalists and policymakers together.

[indiscernible] announcer: you are watching live coverage inside the ballroom.

7:50 is when the pre-dinner program is due to begin. it often runs late as people go through the extra detectors to get into the dinner. there is a lot of criticism about this dinner, the coziness between the press and the politicians since it has become since the 1980's. the director of a new documentary looking at the white house correspondents dinner, he talks about some of his criticisms of the white house correspondents dinner. >> i started off with less of a critical eye then i ended off with. i started off by saying what is this week, why do celebrities come? just a snapshot. isn't this interesting.

then, as i started interviewing people and listening to what this week was about, you start to realize the criteria worked holding up. people said it was about access. people say it is about white house correspondents. they get little correspondent -- they get little attention. some say it is about the scholarship. it is not his bus as it should be. some say it is about fun but it is not that much fun read the criteria holding up the week wasn't holding out. that seemed worth examining. that is when i turned a corner to maybe examine the week with greater scrutiny. announcer: that was patrick gavin, an interview done with him regarding his nerd prom inside the wildest week.

if you have a criticism of a dinner or something you want to say about it, you can tweet us as well. you can follow and make comments on facebook as well.

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announcer: the predinner program is due to begin in 10 minutes. they often push it late. the logistics serving 2600 people are not necessarily simple. the washington hilton has gotten used to it. we talked to the general manager about what it take. >> our staff is 1000 team members. 700 full time. 300 onside predict 200 banquet servers. we have 50 managers that serve as greeters to get everybody where they need to go. we have three folks that focus on nothing but time bowties. you wouldn't believe the number of people who don't know how. >> some of the staffers have

worked the center fairly often in the past several years. >> our executive chef, this will be his 11th dinner. he began with us 11 years ago. his first night working was for the white house associations dinner. we had charlie, hourly our longest-serving member. 47 dinners. announcer: the washington hilton on connecticut avenue north of dupont circle has hosted this dinner for 40 years. through the evening, what you are watching and what you're going to hear, go to work facebook page. [indiscernible]

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[indiscernible] announcer: live coverage in the ballroom of the washington hilton on c-span. the white house correspondents association is the group that puts this dinner on every year. kristi parson is this year's president. she is with the chicago tribune. she talked to us about how this dinner has become very well-known. christie parson: it does attract attention to the people who cover the white house. that is not a small thing. people can feel good about coming to the white house correspondents dinner every year. in buying those tickets they are saying to the white house and other government officials we back these people. we support them.

that helps us. we deal with the white house every day. we have a duty officer on call always ready to take a call from a journalist who is having a hard time getting access or member of the pool who can't get the full pool into a event with the president and the fundraiser. we only stand ready to do that job. it does make a difference when people come and show their support. that is what i love. announcer: that was christie parsons of the tribune company. margaret carlson, he used to watch frequently on cnn, she was with time magazine for a long time, and now is a columnist with bloomberg view, she spoke to c-span about how she feels about hollywood and the white house correspondents dinner. >> bringing in these people, it

brings attention to them outside of their usual habitat. that -- it teaches anybody about what white house correspondents do. announcer: if you would like to make a comment about the dinner facebook.com/c-span. follow us they are. we are following the white house correspondents dinner on twitter if you want to make a comment as well.

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announcer: anytime the president goes anywhere security is tight. many members of the cabinet, lots of politicians, a lot of security goes into this event. the general manager of the hilton spoke with us at. >> the security is operated by the secret service. the hotel takes guidance. it starts with the secret service. their plan is slightly different every year. they provide is the guidance on they will be operating.

we take that and plan from there. it is very complicated. it requires a lot of experience. we are fortunate to have a good director of security who has worked with the secret service for many years. they are -- announcer: they are running a bit late for the predinner program. they have their dinner. after that, the program. they give the scholarship award they hear from the president. they will introduce the board of the white house correspondents association. cecily strong of saturday night live will be the entertainer for the evening. live coverage all evening.

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announcer: as we continue to watch the ballroom fill up, we want to play something for year. the executive director of the white house correspondents dinner it has gotten so big he correspondents association has hired a full-time executive director to manage everything that goes on at this dinner. here is she -- here she is. >> the first dinner, this is the 89th dinner. it messed some years due to war. but the dinner became what it is coincidentally when i started not because of may. 1993, bill clinton came to the white house and had such a following what hollywood.

it has oversold. i accidentally oversold. we had to move the marine band. this year, it has always been the same. 262 tables. that is all that can fit. this year we have to give checks or make refunds.

we could have seated another 1200 people. announcer: that was julia talking about the history of the dinner. the president and the first lady hold receptions prior to the dinner. this year, joyce woodhouse was the mother of dallas and brad woodhouse. she called in back in december. it is a classic call she made to tell her sons to quit fighting. if you want to see the photos that c-span is posting, at c-span is our twitter handle. [indiscernible]

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announcer: the predinner program is about to begin. you can see the vips of entered the room. everybody the things they will be having an dinner include crabmeat housemaid buttermilk dressing, peppery go -- pepe

alaskan halibut. that should begin shortly. the president's own is in the room.

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announcer: