— DIANE CLEHANE

Things at 55th & Fifth aren't exactly back to full tilt quite yet, but the media mavens and movers and shakers are slowly inching their way back into the scene as evidenced by the steady hum in the dining room today. (It certainly was a huge difference from last week when yours truly was shocked — shocked! — to see a virtually empty dining room thanks to some telephone troubles at the reservation desk and the looong holiday). After staying up much later than I should have glued to the tube watching the political pundits try to explain away how they got last night's primary results so wrong, I was thrilled to chat with ABC News' Lynn Scherr, a vet of many a political campaign, and get her take on Hillary, Obama and coverage of the whole shebang. Lynn found the tone of last night's coverage somewhat "jarring" and has a message for the "white guys" of cable (Chris Matthews, this means you!) — "Enough with the sports metaphors! If I heard one more basketball or NASCAR reference ... I used to fight with [former ABC News honcho] Roone Arledge all the time about that. Enough already!" While Lynn isn't covering this election ("I love covering political campaigns but I'm not the least bit unhappy about not being in New Hampshire"), she's thinking about blogging about it. God knows there's going to be plenty to write about. On the subject of Hillary's tears: "I felt they were genuine. The real question is: What was she crying about?" Well, according to Maureen Dowd, whose searing editorial in The New York Times on Wednesday opined the waterworks were brought on because she was devastated by the prospect of losing it all. (And what's so wrong with that?). "She was a bit harsher than I would have been," said Lynn. Before taking off back to the office, Lynn weighed in on what is destined to be one of the most memorable lines uttered by any candidate of this presidential election — Hillary's new feminist battle cry, "I found my own voice." Her verdict: "Whether someone else wrote it for her or she came up with it on her own, it was brilliant. Just brilliant."

Here's the rundown on the rest of the crowd:

1. The Imber Gang: Gerry Imber, Jerry Della Femina and Jeff Greenfield (fresh off his trip to New Hampshire) and pals.

2. Kent Brownridge and a squadron of suits.

3. Jaqui Lividini, a glamorous blonde gal and a bespectacled gent.

4. William Lauder.

5. Kathie Lee Gifford and Dee Emerson

7. Full Frontal Fashion's Judy Licht with gal pals Nazee Moinian and Debbie Tanger.

8. A fashionable foursome: New York Social Diary's David Patrick Columbia, Vanity Fair contributing editor Amy Fine Collins, Alex Hitz and another well-dressed lady.

9. Joe Versace (Yes, that Versace. He's a cousin.) and Chris Taylor.

11. Lynn Scherr.

12. First seating: IMG's Fern Mallis — who said she'd love to do a Q&A for our So What Do You Do? series — we're calling now! Second seating: Lisa Bloom.

14. Alice Mayhew.

15. Literary lions David Hirshey and Jonathan Burnham.

17. TruTv's (RIP Court TV) Star Jones who stopped by the bar to introduce me to her producer Gail Steinberg.

18. Pamela Van Zandt and Michael Clinton.

23. Gerry Byrne.

24. Gordon Davis.

25. Jamie LeFrak.

27. Walter Sabo.

28. Dan Ragone.

29. Joannie Danielides.

Please send comments and corrections to DianeClehane AT mediabistro Dot com and lunch at mediabistro DOT com.