Obama Invites Critics to Evening Reception

President Barack Obama has invited some of his sharpest critics to a closed-door White House reception Monday evening. Obama is hosting newly elected House and Senate members in the event that should be dominated by those who delivered the November mid-term election shellacking, The Washingtron Post reports.

The White House has not yet put out a list of those attending, but of the new House members, 87 are Republicans as are 13 of the new members of the Senate. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., told the Post, "I'm looking forward to it. … I haven't been to the White House since I was a kid. It's always an honor to go to the White House."

The move is just the latest in the charm offensive launched by the president since November. He has reached out to Republican and businesses leaders and even had some House tea party members over to the White House at Christmas.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, said, "Look, obviously there are a host of new members and the president - simply to have an occasion to get to meet them, to have them come here, come to the White House, I think [is] all in a larger effort to hopefully understand not what divides us but what brings us together," the Post said.