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The US State dinner this year went seamlessly as there was no untoward incident of gatecrashers this time. None of the guests, however, took a chance - clutching their embossed invitations, proof that they belonged. As the guests for the second state dinner of Barack Obama's presidency arrived on Wednesday, the White House tried to purge the memories of the uninvited guests at the first state dinner. "I'd say things are pretty secure around here," The New York Times quoted Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as saying. Among the guests were the actors Eva Longoria Parker and George Lopez, the Olympic speed skater Shani Davis, who brought his coach, Jae Su Chun, and the New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, who brought his left tackle, D'Brickashaw Ferguson. But the star power undoubtedly was none other than President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and his wife, Margarita Zavala. Some of Obama's Wall Street friends, including Robert Wolf, president of UBS Investment Bank, and Brian Moynihan, president of Bank of America. Also on hand was Carlos Slim, the Mexican businessman and investor in The New York Times were also seen at the soiree. Whoopi Goldberg, a regular in the Clinton years but not so much in the Bush era, said, "It's kind of like coming home after a long drought."

No gatecrashers at Obama's second State dinner