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Speaker Pelosi said Tuesday that 'there is serious unrest' in the House Democratic Caucus over funding the Afghanistan war.

Washington (CNN) - Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept the door open Tuesday to a proposal by several senior House Democrats to impose a graduated surtax on American taxpayers to finance the war in Afghanistan.

While Pelosi wasn't pressed about the details of the new war tax, she pointed to strong reservations among Congressional Democrats about the costs of the war during a conference call Tuesday with several economic writers and bloggers.

"But let me say that there is serious unrest in our Caucus about can we afford this war?" Pelosi said.
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The president and first lady greeted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at the North Portico of the White House Tuesday evening. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Related: State dinners, the ultimate Washington invite

White House staff prepared Tuesday afternoon for the Obama administration's first state dinner.

Washington (CNN) - Hillary made it, but not Bill. Political allies will be there, along with an opponent or two. Hollywood will be well-represented.

The guest list to Tuesday night's state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - the first such event of President Barack Obama's administration - totaled more than 300 people for what is considered one of the most desired invites in Washington.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on the list, but not her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Democratic colleagues of the president including other Cabinet ministers, several senators and top aides made the list, among them: Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (but not his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.

A couple of Republicans also made it, notably Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Celebrities include Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, actors Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood, DreamWorks Animation executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, CBS News anchor Katie Couric and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.

The Indian diplomatic community also was well-represented, and at least one corporate big-shot, General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, was on there.

One name rumored to be included, but not appearing on the list, was Oprah Winfrey.

(Read the full list of expected attendees after the jump)

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Related: Flavors of India, America at Obamas' first state dinner

RNC members have drafted what's being described as a 'purity' resolution.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - One of Republican National Committee members who helped draft resolution that would prevent moderate candidates from receiving party money said Tuesday that the measure is not intended to challenge to the leadership of Michael Steele, the RNC chairman.

"I think it's sufficiently broad so as not to handcuff him," Nebraska committeeman Pete Ricketts said of the so-called "purity" resolution, which first leaked to reporters Monday.

The resolution, sponsored by Indiana committee member Jim Bopp Jr., proposes a ten-point ideological platform for the Republican party and would require GOP candidates to adhere to at least eight of those points. If not, a candidate be prohibited from receiving financial assistance from the RNC.

Bopp told CNN Monday that the resolution will help Steele avoid criticism from the right-wing of the party. "This resolution will establish standards so that he won't feel obligated to support every Republican and not feel criticized," he said.

Ricketts said the resolution was sparked in large part by the contentious special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, in which a third party candidate, Doug Hoffman, entered the race as an conservative alternative to the moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava. Conservative activists nationwide rallied to Hoffman's side, eventually driving Scozzafava from the race, which was ultimately won by Democrat Bill Owens.

"NY-23 crystallized for us some of the issues the Tea Party people had with Republican party," said Ricketts, one of the resolution's ten co-sponsors. "We felt like we needed to send a message that we are the party of conservative values. This resolution is one way to demonstrate that we mean what we say."

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Mark Sanford, a Republican, has refused to resign in the face of criticism from his own party.

(CNN) – A panel of South Carolina lawmakers who gathered Tuesday to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford voted to broaden the scope of their inquiry to include 37 new ethics charges against the Republican.

Those civil charges were revealed Monday by the South Carolina Ethics Commission, which had conducted a three-month investigation into Sanford's use of state finances. The governor and his legal team now face a hearing before the Ethics Commission to determine if Sanford broke any state laws by charging the state for first- and business-class flights, using state-owned aircraft for political travel and tapping into campaign funds for personal use.

The lawmakers, members of a special subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee that met for the first time Tuesday, decided to include the ethics charges in their review and scheduled four more meetings of the subcommittee for December.

The group will review the Ethics Commission report over Thanksgiving and decide if the charges should be included in the impeachment resolution, which accuses Sanford of "serious misconduct" for leaving the state in June to visit his Argentine mistress without leaving in place a chain of command.

The seven lawmakers - four Republicans and three Democrats - listened to sworn affadavits from key players in the scandal and entered into the record news reports from June highlighting Sanford's absence from the state.

Rep. Greg Delleney, one of the Republicans who drafted the impeachment measure, appeared to warn Sanford against fighting an impeachment effort, should the subcommittee decide to move forward.

"Impeachment is a political process, it's not a legal process," Delleney said at the meeting, which was attended by Sanford's attorneys. "There is no appeal from an impeachment process. Impeachment is final. Impeachment is solely the constitutional power, duty and responsibility of the South Carolina House of Representatives."

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Washington (CNN) – A new national poll indicates that some Americans are cooling to global warming.

According to an ABC News/Washington Post survey released Tuesday - less than two weeks before the start of a global conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark - 72 percent of those polled believe that climate change is happening, down 8 points over the past year.

The poll indicates that the rise in skepticism is mostly due to a shift among Republicans and independents. According to the survey, 54 percent of Republicans questioned believe global warming is happening, down 22 points over the past three-and-a-half years, with a drop of 15 points among independents. The belief in climate change dipped 6 points among Democrats during the same period of time.

The survey's release comes as a Democratic-sponsored "cap-and-trade" proposal to cut pollution slowly makes it way through Congress. The bill calls for the federal government to limit the amount of greenhouse gases that companies can produce in their factories or power plants, and to penalize companies that exceed greenhouse gas limits with fines or by making those businesses pay money to other companies that produce less pollution.

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The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in anticipation of President Obama's decision on the future of the 8-year-old war, a defense official said Tuesday.

Washington (CNN) - The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in anticipation of President Obama's decision on the future of the 8-year-old war, a defense official said Tuesday.

Obama held a lengthy meeting with top advisers Monday night and said Tuesday that he would announce plans for Afghanistan after the Thanksgiving holiday.

A Defense Department official with direct knowledge of the process said there has been no final word on the president's decision. But planners have been tasked with preparing to send 34,000 additional American troops into battle with the expectation that is the number Obama is leaning toward approving, the official said.

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The president, first lady and their guests will dine on pumpkin pie tart or pear tatin with whipped cream and caramel sauce for desert during Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Washington (CNN) - Tables set in resplendent colors - apple green, ruby, gold - with floral arrangements of roses, hydrangeas and sweet peas in plum, purple and fuchsia awaited guests to Tuesday's White House state dinner.

The place settings in fine china from three previous administrations - Eisenhower, Clinton and George W. Bush - are flanked by crystal glasses and five pieces of silverware. Place cards are handwritten - "The President" and "Mrs. Obama" read two.

The first state dinner of Barack Obama's presidency, in honor of visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will take place in a tent set up on the White House South Lawn, with a view of the Washington Monument.

Guests will sit at round tables for 10, with the flower arrangements intended to pay homage to the state bird of India, the Indian peacock, and the dinner featuring a seasonal menu reflecting both American and Indian flavors, according to the White House.

The first course will be a potato and eggplant salad made with White House-grown arugula and accompanied by an onion-seed vinaigrette. Red lentil soup with fresh cheese follows, and then a choice of entrees - roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chick peas and okra for vegetarians, or green curry prawns and caramelized salsify with smoked collard greens.

Dessert will be pumpkin pie tart or pear tatin with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Each course is paired with its own wine, all of American vintage.
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Secretary of State Clinton spoke Tuesday about the special relationship between India and the United States.

Washington (CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, praising what she called the special U.S.-Indian relationship, welcomed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Vice President Joe Biden to a formal lunch at the State Department Tuesday.

"You are the hottest ticket in town," Biden told Singh in remarks at the start of the lunch. The Indian leader will be honored at a White House state dinner Tuesday evening.

Clinton praised the relationship between the two countries, adding that India - like the U.S. - is what she called a "diverse" and "occasionally raucous democracy."

Singh, whose visit comes as the Obama administration is finalizing its policy on Afghanistan, made his feelings clear. "We have a common stake in peace and security in Afghanistan," he said. And he told Clinton, "Your visit to India in July has prepared the groundwork for a greatly strengthened strategic partnership between our two countries."
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Three-quarters of American women between the ages of 35 and 75 disagree with the relaxed medical recommendations for mammograms announced last week.

(CNN) - Three-quarters of American women between the ages of 35 and 75 disagree with the relaxed medical recommendations for mammograms announced by a government panel last week, according to a new Gallup/USA Today poll.

The survey released Tuesday finds 47 percent of women "strongly disagree" and another 29 percent "disagree" with the recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force last week that women in their 40s should no longer get routine breast cancer exams, and that the interval for women getting a mammogram in their 50s should be every two years, rather than every year.

Only 22 percent of those surveyed expressed support for the proposals.

In what could be bad news for the White House and congressional Democrats as they attempt to calm fears an overhaul of the nation's health care system would result in rationing, 76 percent of those polled believe the panel's recommendations were motivated by cost savings rather than an actual assessment of the true risks involved.

The White House has distanced itself from the panel's recommendation amid the uproar it sparked last week.

The report "shouldn't be dismissed," Sebelius said told CNN last week." But, she added, "There are other groups who have disagreed with this information." The task force is "making recommendations, not coverage decisions, not payment decisions."

The poll surveyed 1,136 women, aged 35-75, between November 20-22 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Obama: India-U.S. relations to be a 'defining partnership' for the 21st century.

Washington (CNN) – America's president and India's prime minister agreed Tuesday to team up and tackle a checklist of economic, research, nuclear, security, and environmental challenges.

In what is the first state visit of his presidency, President Barack Obama welcomed India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the White House Tuesday morning.

Obama and Singh had what they called a productive sit-down meeting and then briefed reporters with comments that reiterated what both nations believe will be a strong relationship in the years to come.

Calling India "the world's largest multiethnic democracy " with a fast growing economy, Obama said, "I believe that the relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century" and will reflect the "strategic dialogue" between the countries.

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Palin has signed 20,000 books, aide estimates.

Washington (CNN) – Sarah Palin has signed 20,000 copies of "Going Rogue" during her nationwide book tour, a staffer traveling with the former Alaska governor estimates.

Palin will have visited 13 cities and traveled 4,000 miles by the end of Tuesday, with 80 percent of that travel done aboard the "Going Rogue" bus, according to Jason Recher, an adviser to Palin during her vice presidential bid now assisting with book tour logistics. Recher ticked through the statistics while riding the bus to Palin's stop at The Villages retirement community in central Florida.

He said Palin has sold 700,000 copies of her memoir so far.

"She is truly enjoying it," Recher told CNN. "I think she'd rather spend her time talking to folks like this rather than going to to fundraisers or talking to donors. She'd rather be signing books and meeting people than being a politician."

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(CNN) - Veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy is joining ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman's campaign for California governor.

Murphy, who most recently advised former Republican presidential contenders John McCain and Mitt Romney, will serve as a senior advisor to Whitman's campaign, according to an announcement Tuesday.

Murphy is no stranger to California politics, having served as a campaign adviser to current-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Washington (CNN) - In the battle for Congress, 41 is the crucial number. That's the number of seats the Republicans need to win back from the Democrats in next year's midterm elections to take control of the House of Representatives.

Next November, all 435 seats in the House, where Democrats hold an 258-177 advantage, are up for grabs. After winning back Congress in the 2006 contests and increasing their majorities in the 2008 elections, the Democrats will be playing defense next year. Making matters tougher for the Democrats, the country's political landscape has changed this year, mostly to the benefit of Republicans. But will it be enough to get them to 41?

"President Barack Obama's standing has weakened, Democrats are on the defensive on the economy, spending and health care, and key midterm voting groups, including seniors and Independents, are moving away from the Democrats and toward the GOP," says Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

Of the 39 House Democrats who earlier this month voted against their party's health care reform bill, 31 come from districts that Sen. John McCain won in last year's presidential election. Of the remaining eight, six come from districts in which Obama won less than 55 percent of the vote.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama is expected to announce his Afghanistan strategy "early next week," senior Pentagon officials told CNN Tuesday.

The officials would not speak on the record because there has not been an official announcement.

Several media reports have said the announcement will be on Tuesday, December 1.

The officials said that after the announcement, the current thinking is that Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen will testify to the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees for both the House and Senate.

It is expected that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, will also testify on the Hill after the principals do, the officials said.

Palin back at crucial campaign stop.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin may not be running for office, but she's heading back to a former campaign stop: On Tuesday, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee's book tour brings her back to the Villages, a large adult retirement community in central Florida that was the site of her first campaign appearance in the state last year.

On September 21, 2008, John McCain's running mate addressed a massive crowd as she visited the must-stop location for any candidate campaigning in the key battleground state.

The former Alaska governor and potential 2012 candidate will also visit Jacksonville and Orlando Tuesday as she promotes her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life.".

–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Sing arrived at the White House Tuesday morning.

Washington (CNN) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - speaking on Tuesday at the White House for a visit - said India and the United States "are separated by distance, but bound together by the values of democracy, rule of law, and respect for fundamental human freedoms. over the years."

A new $2 million  ad campaign is targeting lawmakers in nine states.

Washington (CNN) – Lawmakers in nine states will be targeted in a new $2 million television ad campaign paid for by an organization opposed to the Democratic Party's approach to health care reform.

The 60 Plus Association will begin running commercials Wednesday in Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, the organization announced Tuesday. These nine states are either represented by centrist Democrats and Republicans or have sizable senior populations.

The 30 second ad focuses on cuts to Medicare in the Democratic bill being considered in the Senate.

The organization sends a blunt political message to the lawmakers in the commercial warning them that if they vote for the legislation, "Seniors will not forget."