MIAMI, July 20: Janet Reno was the star attraction at Miami’s hottest dance party, drawing some 2,000 paying guests to watch the usually prim former US attorney general boogie down into the daylight hours on Saturday.

“I have never in the history of running nightclubs in South Beach had a success like this,” said Level night club owner Gerry Kelly.

Reno, who is running as a Democratic candidate in Florida’s gubernatorial race, hosted “Janet Reno’s Dance Party” at the popular Level nightclub that regularly draws international superstars and beautiful people.

“It was really something,” Reno told NBC. “The music was contagious, the people were great.

The entire event was a bit of an inside joke: renowned for her seriousness and staid manner, Reno and her dancing became a punch line when she appeared as herself during a skit on the popular US comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”

She decided to reprise her dance act as a fund-raising stunt at Level.

By all accounts, it was a triumph for the Reno campaign, which has had its fits and starts in her bid to beat Tampa lawyer Bill McBride for the Democratic nomination. It was also a success for the Level.

“It’s worse than a presidential inauguration,” Kelly said. “I’m just blown away by the attention.”

The former attorney general returned to Level’s stage shortly after dawn Saturday for a live television appearance on NBC’s “Today Show.”

“It was an example of what we can do if we reach out to others and show them that politics can be fun and that we can make a difference,” Reno said on NBC’s Today Show.—AFP