House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., entertains the crowd at Monday night's "Aggie ball." (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Polls may show that rural Americans voted 59 percent for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, but that didn’t stop rural Democrats, lobbyists, Agriculture Department officials and members of Congress and their aides from celebrating President Barack Obama’s second inaugural this weekend.

On Saturday, rural Democrats gathered at the Monocole, a restaurant and bar on Capitol Hill in Washington. The event was organized by the OFW Law firm and the National Farmers Union but approved for government employee attendance because attendees bought their own drinks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, undersecretaries and other current and former political appointees joined rural Democrats from out of town at the gathering.

On Monday night several hundred lobbyists, government officials and a few journalists attended a “Bipartisan Inaugural Gala Celebrating American Agriculture” at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington. Tickets said the gala, which is also known as the “Aggie Ball,” the “Piggy Party” or the “Farm Prom,” was a widely attended event also in accordance with the gift rules applicable to federal government employees.
Tom Vilsack
Vilsack attended the event and in brief remarks noted that he and his wife, Christie, considered the Aggie Ball so important they left the White House in order to attend it. Senators and House members were also among the attendees, including Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who defeated Christie Vilsack, a former Iowa first lady, in a House race.

Jay Vroom of Crop Life America, one of the organizers, introduced Vilsack and noted that a portion of the ticket proceeds would go to Feeding America, the nation’s largest chain of food banks.

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., performed several songs with a country-western band including “Make the World Go Away.” In conversation, Peterson, who has expressed disappointment that Congress did not finish work on a farm bill in 2012 and passed an extension through September 30, said he “could live with” another extension except for the dairy and cotton provisions.

Cassandra and Nicolette Borlaug, visitors from Bismarck, N.D., to the inaugural events, pose with their animal cake pops at the conclusion of the Aggie Ball early this morning. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)