President Barack Obama's state dinner Wednesday evening for Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala, will be attended by a who's who of powerful, and politically connected Hispanic Americans.

Topping the list are Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), Silvestre Reyes (Texas), and Nydia Velázquez (N.Y.), and Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Actors Eva Longoria-Parker and George Lopez will attend, as will New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Goya Foods president Robert Unanue will also attend, according to the White House.

Other notable guests will include Justice Anthony Kennedy, actress Whoopi Goldberg, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and American Express CEO Ken Chenault. They'll be joined by a A-list Washington roster typical of a state dinner: Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

In an unexpected turn of events, the White House announced Wednesday that the evening will be split into two sections, with two separate guests lists for each one. Following dinner in the East Room, approximately 100 more guests will join the 200 dinner attendees for a performance by Grammy Award-winning pop star Beyonce.

Billed as a "reception following dinner,"  this portion of the evening will be attended by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), and Democratic Reps. Linda Sanchez (Calif.),  Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), Grace Napolitano (Calif.), Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.), Ruben Hinojosa (Texas), Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Nita Lowey (N.Y.), and Eliot Engel (N.Y.), none of whom will be attending the dinner.

Beyonce will perform in a tent on the South Lawn of the White House. The Latin group Rodrigo y Gabriela will also perform, as will the United States Marine Band.

This won't be Beyonce's first performance for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama: The couple famously slow-danced to her rendition of the soul classic "At Last" during one of the many inaugural balls held in January of 2009.

In addition to the entertainment, the White House on Wednesday released the menu for the dinner, which was designed by the visiting chef Rick Bayless, in consultation with the first lady. Bayless traveled from Chicago to Washington on Monday to begin preparing the meal.

Dinner guests will dine in the East Room of the White House, and begin with a salad of jicama, oranges, grapefruit, and pineapple, topped with a citrus vinaigrette. Next up is an herb ceviche made with opah, a fish native to Obama's home state of Hawaii.

The main course will consist of Oregon Wagyu beef and mole, a traditional Mexican stew flavored with cacao. Alongside the beef will be green beans and a Mexican black bean tamalon.

The dessert is an ultra-gourmet take on the American classic S'mores, pairing a chocolate tart with toasted marshmallows, graham cracker crumble, and in a surprise twist, goat cheese ice cream.

The three wines will include two American and one Mexican: a Ulises Valdez Chardonnay 2007 “Russian River,” Herrera Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 “Selección Rebecca,” and with dessert, a Mumm Napa “Carlos Santana Brut” N/V.

The tables will offer a creative departure from the traditional rounds: rectangular 10 seater tables will be interspersed with rounds, also for ten. The two heads of state and their spouses will sit at a head table set for twenty.

According to the White House, the decor will honor Calderón's birthplace of Michoacán, Mexico. Mayan blue striped tablecloths will be complemented by gilded baskets of fuschia, roses, orchids, and prickly pear cactus.

The White House also said that guests, upon entering the dining room, would experience the feel of "Monarch butterflies in flight," although they declined to explain how.  

Golf star Tiger Woods may be out of favor on Capitol Hill, but one of his main rivals is getting plenty of love.

Less than four months after Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) made headlines by abandoning efforts to give Tiger Woods a Congressional Gold Medal, Phil Mickelson was honored Tuesday with a congressional resolution congratulating him on his 2010 Masters championship.

Sponsored by Georgia Rep. Paul Broun (R), the resolution notes that Mickelson's final score of 67 at Augusta was 16 under par, and cites his charity work along with the "great pride and honor" that his "tremendous skill, patience, and determination" in victory bring to his family and friends.

Any memory of the possible pitfalls to honoring professional athletes in Congress seemed far from the minds of lawmakers as they approved the Mickelson resolution by a two-thirds vote.

The only reference to Tiger's troubles, and to the biggest story in golf this year, was Broun's description of "the loud buzz" surrounding this year's Master's tournament.

That buzz was Woods' return to professional golf. Broun said Mickelson handled it with a quiet "consistency."

The similarities between Hollywood and Capitol Hill are well documented, and for at least one A-List actor, this makes it easy to come to D.C.

But it doesn't make it fun.

Don Cheadle, star of "Hotel Rwanda" and the "Ocean's 11" series, told ITK that the halls of Congress and the boulevards of La-La Land are fundamentally similar for him, both filled with, "people running around trying to get attention for their particular project. But they need to marshall enough troops, and the right ones, to move it forward."  Read more...

President Barack Obama's official Twitter account issued a challenge to Republicans on financial regulatory reform Wednesday.

The account, which is operated by the Democratic National Committee, urged its nearly 4 million followers to call GOP senators to encourage them to vote for the reform bill.

It's time for Wall St. reform that gives greater security to folks on Main Street. Call your Republican Senators today: http://j.mp/cwhtg7

Three cloture votes to proceed with debate failed late last month, and no Republicans supported the votes. Senators eventually agreed to start debate via unanimous consent.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he expects several Republicans to support the next cloture vote, which would send the legislation to a final vote likely this week.

The financial bill is one of the Obama administration's top legislative priorities.

What's in the sachel that Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) carries wherever he goes in the Senate? A stack-ful of briefing papers... And an Amazon Kindle, complete with the poems of Edgar Allan Poe.

Pryor and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are the only two senators to carry sachels, which they are rarely without. Pryor said he has talked other senators into getting a Kindle, such as Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). The Poe poems came pre-installed on the Kindle, he said.

Grassley said his sachel is also filled with briefing papers that he needs to read.

"I never know when I'm going to have a few spare minutes, so I carry them with me and every once in a while when I have time to kill, I just dip into it," Grassley said.

Judging by Sen. Arlen Specter's (D-Pa.) turn on MSNBC Tuesday, Philadelphia may not be quite ready for live political broadcasts.

Specter, who was facing Rep. Joe Sestak in a tight Democratic primary, chatted with Andrea Mitchell around lunchtime.

But the set's rainy window background was repeatedly messed up by a goofy pedestrians.

First there was the big guy with the little camera, who took pictures of the TV set for about a minute. Then the blue sweatshirt guy, pointing, with his buddy. Then two huge red and white striped golf umbrellas, which filled up the entire background for about 30 seconds. And on and on.

The local color didn't seem to bother Mitchell and Specter for most of the interview, but it may have contributed to Specter's awkward sign-off.

Before leaving the set, Specter appealed to voters to get out and vote for him. The only trouble? Specter was looking into the wrong camera.

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) has deleted a YouTube video promoting abstinence-only education that he taped last year with the woman who was his mistress at the time.

On Tuesday, the Indiana Republican acknowledged an extramarital affair with a staff member, and announced his resignation from Congress.

That staffer is Tracy Jackson, who can be seen "interviewing" Souder in the now-removed video clip. Specificallty, she asks him about a recent, contentious Government Oversight hearing about abstinence education.

In the clip, Souder accuses then-Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) of bias against abstinence education. He also drops a pun, saying "I personally feel I should have probably abstained from the hearing."

Until Tuesday, the video been posted for months on a YouTube account called RepMarkSouder. But as of ten minutes ago, the video has been "removed by the user."

Other videos along the bottom of the screen are still intact.