Source: Hodes joined Obama, stars for state dinner

U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, (D-NH), attended President Barack Obama’s State Dinner Tuesday night in Washington, NowHampshire.com has learned. The Second District congressman was accompanied by his wife, Peggo, at the star-studded affair honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Hodes was the lone member of New Hampshire’s Congressional Delegation to make the cut for what was Obama’s first State Dinner. High-profile guests at the exclusive fete included Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), and Katie Couric, according to the White House.

A key early backer of Obama’s presidential bid, Hodes threw his support behind the then-Illinois senator in the summer of 2007. U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, (D-NH), endorsed Obama shortly before the 2008 New Hampshire primary.

A State Dinner ticket represents one of the rarest and most highly sought invitations in the nation’s capital. Only six such affairs were held during George W. Bush’s two terms in the White House.

According to an Associated Press report, the menu included: “potato and eggplant salad, arugula from the White House garden, red lentil soup and roasted potato dumplings or green curry prawns.”