WASHINGTON -- It was twice the fun for members of the White House Correspondents' Association and guests when President George W. Bush and a look-alike, sound-alike sidekick poked fun at the president and fellow politicians.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I feel chipper tonight. I survived the White House shake-up," the president said Saturday night.

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and Bush impersonator Steve Bridges deliver a parodic speech during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington April 29, 2006. [Reuters]

But impersonator Steve Bridges stole many of the best lines. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting accident were targets of his humor on a couple of occasions.

"Speaking of suspects, where is the great white hunter?" Bridges said, later adding, "He shot the only trial lawyer in the country who supports me."

Bush continued a tradition begun by President Coolidge in attending the correspondents' dinner.

He invited Bridges to play his double. The president talked to the press in polite, friendly terms. Bridges told them what the president was really thinking.

Former CIA agent Valerie Plame attends the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington April 29, 2006. This is Plame's first public appearance since her identity was leaked to the media, which is under federal investigation. [Reuters]

Bridges opened like this: "The media really ticks me off - the way they try to embarrass me by not editing what I say. Well let's things going, or I'll never get to bed."

"I'm absolutely delighted to be here, as is (wife) Laura," Bush replied.

"She's hot," Bridges quipped.

The featured entertainer was Stephen Colbert, whose Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" often lampoons the Washington establishment.

"I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq," Colbert said in a typical zinger.

He also paid mock tribute to Bush as a man who "believes Wednesday what he believed Monday, despite what happened Tuesday."

Yet it's the Who's Who of power and celebrity in the audience - invited by media organizations to their dinner tables - that draws much of the attention.

Joining ABC were former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, the CIA officer at the heart of a leak investigation that has reached deep into the White House.

Others on the guest list included rapper-actor Ludacris, whose real name is Chris Bridges; James Denton, the hunky plumber on "Desperate Housewives" on ABC; "Dancing With the Stars" winner Drew Lachey; New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; tennis player Anna Kournikova; and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.