Sunday: President Obama, First Lady To Host 2013 Governors' Dinner

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First major formal affair of the second term...
President Obama and First Lady Obama will host the first black tie dinner of the second term when they welcome America's Governors to the White House this Sunday evening, Feb. 24.  The event is a presidential tradition when the state executives come to Washington for the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA), and the First Couple have hosted the dinner each year since President Obama took office.  The guests are typically treated to a command performance by a famous vocal artist during a post-dinner reception.  (Above, the President and Mrs. Obama at the 2011 dinner, watching Gladys Knight perform)

Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will also attend the dinner in the State Dining Room, Press Secretary Jay Carney announced on Friday.  There are 55 Governors in the NGA, and they will bring spouses or significant others. The event is closed to press except for toast remarks, and in past years has featured President Obama leading his guests in a rollicking Conga line across the East Room after dining on the White House version of surf & turf during the three-course feast.

"Tonight it’s about having some fun," President Obama said last year. "I want everybody to have a great time tonight." 

The steak-loving Obamas have served glorious Wagyu or dry-aged rib eye and a seafood accompaniment at each Governors' Dinner.  The 2012 menu starred rib eye and Maryland crab macaroni & cheese as the entree, and, of course, bounty from Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden.

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell  (D) is the current chair of the NGA, and will toast the President on Sunday.  But the White House is unlikely to announce which Governors are actually attending the dinner.  During President Obama's first term, the self-proclaimed "most transparent Administration in history" did not release official guest lists for the dinners, except for the first one in 2009.  

As of the election in November 2012, 32 of the Governors are Republican, 19 are Democratic, and the rest list themselves as independent or other. Seven are newly in office, including five from the continental US.  

The President and Vice President met with members of the Democratic Governors Association on Friday morning at the White House.  On Monday, they will meet with members of the NGA at the White House, according to Carney, and make remarks in the State Dining Room.  Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden will also address the gathering.

Earth Wind & Fire (2009), Harry Connick, Jr. (2010) and Dianne Reeves (2012) have each headlined the dinners, in addition to Knight.  

Related: The 2011 Governors' Dinner; the 2010 Governors' Dinner; and the 2009 Governors' Dinner.

*Photo by Pete Souza/White House