Obama to attend Gridiron dinner

President Obama will attend the annual Gridiron dinner, the organization told its members on Friday.

"I am pleased to report that President Obama has accepted our invitation to the March 9, 2013, Spring Dinner, his fourth Gridiron dinner," organization President Chuck Lewis informed members in an email, which was obtained by The Hill.

The white-tie event is one of the most exclusive in Washington. Membership to the Gridiron Club and Foundation is limited to 65 journalists and is by invitation-only.

The dinner is famous for its satirical musical skits by the members. It is an off-the-record event with press coverage barred but the speeches and skits tend to leak out. C-SPAN, which airs the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, has asked for years to air it but has been denied.

It usually hosts the president along with a Democratic speaker and a Republican speaker.

Obama first attended the dinner in 2004, when he was still a senator. It also marked his first appearance with Mitt Romney, who was then the governor of Massachusetts. Obama was the Democratic speaker that year and Romney was the Republican one.

This will be Obama's second visit as president. He skipped it in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

At his first diner in 2004, which he addressed after his speech at the Democratic National Convention catapulted him into the spotlight, Obama mocked his image.

"It's like I was shot out of a cannon. I am so overexposed, I make Paris Hilton look like a recluse," he said, according to media reports at the time. "After all the attention — People magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair, Letterman — I figure there's nowhere to go from here but down. So tonight, I announce my retirement from the United States Senate. I had a good run."

He didn't attend his first dinner as president until 2011. He remarked at the time: "The last time I attended this dinner was in 2006. A lot has changed in those past five years. Back then I was a newcomer who couldn't get anything done in the Senate. Now I'm a President who can't get anything done in the Senate."

The Democratic speaker this year is Sen. Amy Klobachar (Minn.) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is the Republican speaker.