C-SPAN’s coverage starts at 6:45 ET (livestreaming online right here) with a view of the red carpet as celebrities and “celebrities” make their way in. Any reason to spend hours watching reporters congratulate themselves on being important, punctuated by Obama goofing on his political enemies and then Seth Meyers goofing on Obama’s political enemies?

Yep, there is this year.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is this Saturday, and, as usual, media organizations (including our own) have been scrambling to land celebrity guests to pack their ballroom tables. And, as usual, the names run the gamut of glamorous to titillating. But in the run-up to what’s been dubbed “Nerd Prom,” one invitation has stood out: the Washington Post is slated to bring Donald Trump, birther presidential candidate and reality TV star…

We did not find too many people at the Post willing to talk about the Trump invite… But a newsroom employee who asked to remain anonymous [said]: “It’s embarrassing but so is the entire affair.” Another Post source defended the invite–to a point. “I understand where the question comes from, but the guy is at the top of the polls. He’s No. 1,” the source said. “Look, the guy wants to play in the deep end of the pool, so fine, let him.” The source also pointed out that the Post extended its WHCD invitation when Trump’s birther candidacy was considered a publicity stunt instead of credible. “Imagine if the Post decided, ‘You’re not invited.’ Then you would be doing a different story.”…

Trump’s harshest critic at the Post so far has been conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who called Trump a “provocateur and clown” who “can only hurt the [Republican] party” with his questions about Obama’s birthplace. We asked him whether he shared Klein’s embarrassment at being affiliated with him through the WHCD. “He’s a spectacle,” he said. “If I took the White House Correspondent’s Dinner any more seriously than the Trump candidacy than it would bother me. But I don’t. Like Trump, it’s a spectacle.”

Bristol Palin will be there too — and so might Sarah, who dropped by the WHCD brunch this morning in D.C. I can’t find confirmation online that she’ll be at tonight’s dinner, but if she’s decided at the last minute that she wants to go, rest assured that she’ll get in. Obama, Trump, and Palin, all in the same room? What could go wrong?

Comment below if you’re watching, which, let’s face it, most of us will be. Exit question: Trump’s going to end up heckling The One, isn’t he?

Update: Alas, Palin won’t be there after all. According to Ian Lazaran of Conservatives4Palin, she’s giving a speech in Bethesda tonight.