Guess who's coming to the Obamas' first state dinner?

The East Room only seats 140 guests.

So President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are hosting their first State Dinner on the White House lawn, under a tent, a move borrowed by the Clinton White House that allows the guest list to expand to 320.

Even so, tickets for the State Dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are as hard to find as bipartisan consensus. The menu should be interesting too, since Singh is a vegetarian.

Jennifer Hudson, Academy Award-winning diva songstress, is set to headline the entertainment. Hudson's life was touched by tragedy a year ago when her mother, brother and nephew were found slain in Chicago. Since then, she has returned to the spotlight slowly. This week, she was tapped to play Winnie Mandela in an upcoming biopic.

As for the invitation list, the White House plans to release details later, but one website is predicting that "Hollywood, Bollywood, stuffed shirts, fancy pants and political top dogs will converge" on the White House lawn. And Politico is leaking names as soon as they have them, including Hollywood director M. Night Shyamalan and Sanja Gupta, the CNN medical reporter first tapped by Obama to be his surgeon general.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press

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Republicans' new litmus test for 2010 candidates: only conservatives need apply

In an attempt to reclaim the Grand Old Party for conservatives, a group of Republican National Committee members is circulating a 10-point platform for the 2010 elections. The platform opposes gun control, abortion, gay marriage and President Obama's healthcare reform, among other issues. The catch: Only candidates who agree with at least eight of the principles would get funding from the Republican Party.

"The goal of the resolution is to take a position ... towards reclaiming the Republican Party’s conservative bona fides,” said Committeeman James Bopp, who authored the resolution. “We are open to diverse views. But you have to agree with us most of the time.”

Conservatives like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin clashed with party officials last month by backing a conservative over the party's nominee in 23rd Congressional District in New York. The effort to further purify the party ideologically could pose new problems for Chairman Michael Steele as he tries to recruit centrist Republicans to run in congressional districts that lean Democratic.

But conservatives within the party are adamant. They want candidates to abide by a litmus test they are calling Reagan’s Unity Principle. Here's the full list.

(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;
(2) Market-based healthcare reform and oppose Obama-style government-run healthcare;
(3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap-and-trade legislation;
(4) Workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing "card check";
(5) Legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
(6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
(7) Containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;
(8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
(9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing healthcare rationing and denial of healthcare and government funding of abortion; and
(10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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Obama's Afghanistan decision: Tune in next week

President Obama held his ninth meeting Monday night in the situation room with his War Council, a two-hour session to review the options in Afghanistan. This time, the assembled foreign-policy and military experts even included the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, an outspoken critic of the Hamid Karzai government in Kabul.

Also on hand for the very first time was Budget Director Peter Orszag, signaling the weight the Obama administration now places on how to pay for any surge in U.S. troops.

Today, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president was ready to make a decision.

“After completing a rigorous final meeting, President Obama has the information he wants and needs to make his decision," Gibbs said, "and he will announce that decision within days.”

White House aides are talking about a prime-time address on Tuesday for Obama to announce and explain his decision. In the meantime, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, whose request for 40,000 more troops sparked the review, has been told to prepare to testify before Congress early next week.

Any increase in U.S. troops, aides say, is likely to be accompanied by more muscular diplomatic efforts and development aid, as well as an exit strategy from the war started eight years ago when President Bush invaded Afghanistan to retaliate for the 9/11 attacks.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Pete Souza / White House

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Now, Democrats join Dick Cheney's critique of Obama

President Obama is set to grant a blanket pardon shortly to this year's White House turkeys. 

But while Obama advised his cabinet Monday to take a little time off this week, presumably to give thanks and watch Detroit lose to Green Bay again, there's a real challenge for the 44th president to discern today: exactly what he should be thankful for. Never mind his slow, steady fade in the polls, matching the slow, steady rise in unemployment.

Although he's not in any election for nearly three more years, Obama's reputation, congressional clout and ability to accomplish pretty much anything is in serious jeopardy come next November's midterms, if not before. Former VP Dick Cheney, who single-handedly reinvented the wonderful Wyoming word "dithering" in recent weeks, is at Obama again (see video below) in no uncertain terms.

Which some might find predictable. But would they expect Arianna Huffington to be openly worrying that the Obama administration just doesn't get it about the economy and jobs? Or how about Leslie Gelb, former New York Times columnist, State and Defense Department official and now president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations?

He's calling Obama's recent Asia trip an unproductive waste of precious presidential time under the headline: "Amateur Hour at the White House."

What's going on here for The One chosen barely a year ago with such widespread hope and....

So do you think Lou Dobbs will get the Hispanic vote in 2012?

President Lou Dobbs.

Has a nice ring to it, right?

Well, he's starting to think so. Word out of New York this afternoon that LD is pondering a run for the White House.

The 64-year-old award-winning former radio/TV host, the son of a Texas propane dealer (no gasbag jokes,  please), was asked on a radio interview today about this "crazy idea" floating around of him seeking the presidency of these United States.

His response: "What's so crazy about that? Golly!" (Except he really said golly.)

He elaborated slightly:

"Well, I’ll tell you this much -- it’s one of the discussions that we’re having. For the first time, I’m actually listening to some people about politics. I don’t think I’ve got the nature for it. [But] we’ve got to do something in this country, and I think that being in the public arena means you’ve got to be part of the solution.

The controversial Harvard-educated CNN commentator, who was particularly outspoken on this cockamamie idea that the United States has some kind of illegal alien problem, abruptly resigned on-air Nov. 11. Protest groups claimed they had him pushed out.

But Lou cited his growing concern over the nation's expanding problems and the need to address them beyond his cable commentator's role. (See video below for his complete resignation remarks.)

Now, it's taken the self-described "independent populist" 12 whole days to....

broach the idea of running for the White House, good news for any incumbent since Dobbs and you-name-all-the-others can divvy up the voters unhappy with him.

It is, of course, a preposterous idea that someone never elected to anything except high school student body president in rural Texas could win the nation's top elected job on the backs of angry voters who believe the incumbent is incompetent.

Next thing you know, people will be suggesting that some old movie actor from California, who switched parties and peddled refrigerators on black-and-white TV, could run against a Democratic president elected after eight years of Republican controversy and scandal. And then the Republican actor could be elected president -- twice.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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The challenge of being Blanche Lincoln in 2009-2010

Like one of those Indiana Jones movies -- where each near-death experience is followed by some even more extraordinary feat of derring-do -- the tension only escalates now that Democrats have pushed their healthcare bill to the floor of the Senate.

No one is likely to feel more pressure over the next few weeks than Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln, who waited until virtually the last-minute to announce her support for moving forward with debate -- giving giving Democrats the bare 60 votes needed to avoid a GOP filibuster.

But Lincoln, who faces a tough reelection fight, next year, made it clear her vote Saturday night doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be there with fellow Democrats on final passage. It’s not pretty, the view from the fence where she sits.

As one longtime observer of Arkansas politics put it in Monday’s print story on Lincoln: "She's getting it from both sides.” Moveon.org and other liberal groups are beating her up for opposing the “public option.” Republicans are beating her up for, well, being a Democrat up for reelection.

During a recent interview, Lincoln talked at length about her political situation, the difficulties of running for reelection in 2010 -- at the midterm of President Obama’s first term, historically a time the White House party loses congressional seats -- and what she would like to see in healthcare legislation.

Lincoln sat the end of a long conference table, in what might have once been the parlor of the red-brick Victorian home that serves as her state headquarters. In the background the telephones rang incessantly.

--On healthcare as an all-consuming matter:  “I think by far the biggest issue on people’s minds is the economy. And I think until we do something with healthcare it’s going to suck a lot of out of air out of Washington, when we really need to be focused on the economy and job creation. … Healthcare’s a part of that, but it’s not all there is.”

Lincoln acknowledged a desire to finish up with healthcare, but not just for the sake of pushing the issue off the table: “It’s not as if we just want to do it and get rid of it. … We want to accomplish a greater value in our healthcare dollars, a greater efficiency in our healthcare delivery system.”

--On the so-called “trigger,” that would introduce a public option if insurance companies fail to enact reforms on their own: “I don’t have a problem looking at making sure there’s more pressure on the private industry to be able to provide more options and that hammer -- I prefer to call it a hammer. … There are going to be other options [in] the marketplace. Not necessarily a government-funded option, but nonprofit, perhaps.”

--On the difficult of running in 2010: “I ran for reelection in 1994. Any time you run in the midterm of a new administration, it’s going be this way. … People's expectations have been heightened. You're the first thing between those expectations and results, so it's going to be a tough year.  [Republicans] are going to seize that opportunity.”

--On criticism she’s being wishy-washy, or indecisive as the debate grinds on: “People think you’re supposed to be for or against healthcare reform. Well, it depends what’s in there.”

--Mark Z. Barabak

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Photo: Office of Sen. Lincoln

Sarah Palin vs. Levi Johnston, the sequel: Can too much exposure ruin a potential presidential candidate?

 
The timing had to be awkward.

Just as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was wowing crowds in a book tour for "Going Rogue," her one-time almost son-in-law Levi Johnston -- the father of her grandson, Tripp -- celebrated a publication of his own -- full-length photos in the nude for Playgirl Magazine.

Palin, who does not mention Johnston in her book, told Oprah that she considers his poses porn.

"By the way, I don't know if we call him Levi -- I hear he goes by the name Ricky Hollywood now, so, if that's the case, we don't want to mess up this gig he's got going," she said. "Kind of this aspiring, aspiring porn -- the things that he's doing. It's kind of heartbreaking."

As for Johnston's relationship with his son, Palin said: "He hasn't seen the baby for a while, but we will let that be the discussion between Bristol and Levi, as they work out their relationship. Because Levi will forever be the father of this beautiful little baby, and I continue to hope for the best, and pray for Levi."

Asked if he would be invited to Thanksgiving, Palin said, "He is part of the family...This can all work out for good."

Johnston has already generated some political heat by saying, in an interview with Vanity Fair, that Palin found her job as governor "too hard" and that she offered to adopt Tripp to hide the teen pregnancy.

The Playgirl shoots provide further evidence that even as Palin's national profile rises, Johnston's not going away anytime soon. As The Times' Meghan Daum put it the other day, "He's hot, he's cute, he's playing hardball."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Levi Johnston, photo credit: Getty Images

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A Kennedy battles a bishop: church, state and abortion

Rhode Island Democrat Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, has, like his father, long been a public supporter of abortion rights.

Because of his stance on abortion, Bishop Thomas Tobin, the archbishop of the Providence diocese, three years ago banned Kennedy from receiving Holy Communion but promised to keep the decision confidential.

Now, the 42-year-old Kennedy is going public. And the bishop is fighting back.

On Friday, Kennedy told the Providence Journal that Bishop told him he was "not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion.

Bishop Tobin replied that even though “I have no desire to continue the discussion of Congressman Kennedy’s spiritual life in public," he will defend the church or his pastoral ministry from "inaccurate statements." The truth, said the bishop, is that he never discussed their conversation with anyone else, and that he prays that Kennedy will “enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and repentance,”

Kennedy first attacked the church in October during the House debate on abortion protections in the healthcare bill. At the time, the Rhode Island congressman told Catholic News Service, “I thought they were pro-life. If the Church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health-care reform because it’s going to provide health care that (is) going to keep people alive."

Despite the war of words in the public arena, the church has been winning in the halls of Congress. A few weeks ago, lobbying by Catholics helped preserve limits on government funding for abortions in the healthcare bill, protections they are again seeking in the Senate.

As Politico's Jeanne Cummings reported this morning, the U.S. Conference of Bishops hit on a winning lobbying strategy: deploy paid staff to Capitol Hill, tap influential bishops to lobby key congressional leaders and distribute bulletin inserts to 19,000 parishes with easy instructions — and sample wording — for sending a message to local representatives.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press

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Top Democrat warns Afghanistan will bankrupt domestic programs, threatens war surtax if Obama sends more troops

David Obey came to Congress in 1969, a young Democratic congressman from Wisconsin, opposed to the Vietnam War and mindful of the funding it was draining from Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs.

Thirty years later, he is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and adamant that Afghanistan is a similar quagmire that could bankrupt President Obama's domestic agenda.

"There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan," House Appropriations Chairman David Obey told ABC News. "If they ask for an increased troop commitment in Afghanistan, I am going to ask them to pay for it."

Comparing Afghanistan to Vietnam, Obey said that both were long-standing civil wars and that, in each case, the United States found itself with an unreliable partner on the ground.

"On the merits, I think it is a mistake to deepen our involvement," Obey said. "But if we are going to do that, then at least we ought to pay for it. Because if we don't, if we don't pay for it, the cost of the Afghan war will wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy."

"If we have to pay for the healthcare bill, we should pay for the war as well," Obey said, "by having a war surtax."

Obey's comments come just as Washington is starting to acknowledge the huge debt laid at its doorstep by recent programs -- including the massive drug-prescription bill and Iraq war costs enacted under the Bush administration as well as the healthcare overhaul and stimulus plans ginned up under Obama.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The current national debt is $12 trillion, and the White House estimates that, by 2019, interest from the debt will top $700 billion a year. As one analyst, Pimco's William Gross, told the New York Times, “What a good country or a good squirrel should be doing is stashing away nuts for the winter. The United States is not only not saving nuts, it’s eating the ones left over from the last winter.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: David Obey. Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

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Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama: The approval gap silently shrinks to a few points

Not that it matters politically because obviously she's a female Republican dunce and he's obviously a male Democratic genius.

But Sarah Palin's poll numbers are strengthening.

And President Obama's are sliding.

Guess what? They're about to meet in the 40s.

Depending, of course, on which recent set of numbers you peruse and how the questions are phrased on approval or favorable, 307 days into his allotted 1,461 the 44th president's approval rating among Americans has slid to 49% or 48%, showing no popularity bounce from his many happy trips, foreign and domestic.

Riding the wave of immense publicity and symbiotic media interest over her new book, "Going Rogue," and the accompanying promotional tour, Palin's favorable ratings are now at 43%, according to ABC. That's up from 40% in July.

One poll even gives her a 47% favorable.

Most recent media attention has focused on the 60% who say she's unqualified to become president. Her unfavorable rating is 52%, down from 53%, which still doesn't ignite a lot of optimism for Palin-lovers.

On the other hand, 35 months before the 2008 election, that Illinois senator was such a nobody that no one even thought to ask such a question about him. Things seem to change much more quickly these days.

Saturday night Palin's book bus swung by a mall in Roanoke, Va., a state Obama won a year ago but just recently elected a Republican governor to replace departing Tim Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The former Alaska governor wanted to greet the hundreds of fans already lining up in 39-degree weather for her Sunday morning signing.

"She brings out a different crowd, " Salem Republican Party Chairman Greg Habeeb told the Roanoke Times. Habeeb was struck by the numerous non-Republicans he spotted in the line snaking all over the mall. "She taps into something that the Republican Party really needs to tap into."

Sunday, Palin flew ahead of her bus to visit the Rev. Billy Graham and his son Franklin at the father's North Carolina home before her appearance today at Fort Bragg.

Overall, Palin's, well, campaign will visit 25 states, most of them politically crucial. Florida gets the most stops, three.

Everybody thinks 2012 when they think of Palin, who last week pushed Oprah's show to....