Clyburn attends state dinner, Sec. Chu coming to SC

President Obama opened his first state dinner in the White House on Tuesday with a toast for India’s prime minister. The dinner was held in the prime minister’s honor. Numerous media outlets report that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned the praise.
The 338-person guest list included faces from Washington and Hollywood as well as prominent figures from the Indian community in the U.S. Also included were the president’s campaign donors and friends.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina was there.   Clyburn says he enjoyed talking with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who just announced a large grant for Clemson University for the testing and development of next-generation wind turbines. A facility at the North Charleston Navy base is expected to create hundreds of jobs, and eventually lead to industries in South Carolina which may create up to 20,000 jobs.
But the evening wasn’t without its tense moments. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania demonstrated inexplicable timing when the cummerbun he was wearing dropped off onto the floor just as he and his wife arrived–while he was greeting approximately 40 reporters and photographers.
 
Secretary Chu will join Clyburn as well as Senator Lindsey Graham, Governor Mark Sanford, Representaive Gresham Barrett, Rpresentative Joe Wilson and others at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina Monday(10am) for the groundbreaking of a biomass generation project.  He’ll also take a tour of the G.E. facility in Greenville(12:30 pm) and Clemson’s ICAR facility(3 pm), at Campbell Graduate Engineering Center.